Until the End
by Iehu
Summary: Follow Commander Shepard as she discovers just how thin the line is between being a soldier and being a mercenary. Continuation of When the Mind Forgets. OC/Aria. Rating to change.
1. Chapter 1

Purgatory Bar was full of noise. The music blared, hypnotizing the people on the dancefloor. The bar was full of people, as was the open floor. People mingled in groups, drinks in hand, laughing and talking. If anything, it spoke volumes about what was going on. Anyone could see the uneasy shifts in the conversation when it struck too close to any subject related to the war. The tension practically hung in the air like steam, hot and frustrating, but not necessarily suffocating. The lone bartender for the evening, a turian, looked out of the corner of his eye at clock on the nearby wall. His business partner, a friend, should have been here almost fifteen minutes ago. She was known for being late, but never more than ten minutes or so late. And even then, she was usually late to make a point. But not tonight, no, he had a feeling that she was doing a little _errand_ before she came into Purgatory tonight.

He could see the other one sitting in the VIP lounge, facing down towards the bar, with one leg hooked over the other. She must have been searching for her as well. Hell, he thought to himself, she probably had someone outside the bar waiting to ping her when she finally showed up. A patron suddenly tapped on the counter, drawing his attention. A woman, an asari, looked skeptically at him.

"Can I order a drink?" she asked, trying to be louder than the music and other people around her.

"Sure, what do you want?" He asked, motioning to the bottles over his shoulder.

The asari looked over her shoulder and licked her lips. "There's a human drink I had once...a vodka martini?"

The turian nodded. "Sure thing, coming right up." He moved down the bar, finding a glass and the ingrediants he needed for the drink. When he finished shaking everything together, he returned to the asari, pouring the contents of the shaker into her glass. "Here you are."

"Thanks." The asari said. She looked up at him suddenly, a glint in her eye. "So tell me, where's that infamous Hackett at?"

The turian did a double-take. How did she...He shook his head. "Don't know what you're talking about."

"Look, Derimus," the asari took a sip of her martini. "I know that she's here. I know that she's here under an assumed name. I know that she's not here, and I want to know where she is."

Derimus narrowed his eyes and put his hands on the counter, leaning as intimidatingly close as he could to the asari. "Who the hell are you?" He demanded.

"Not important. What's important is that a friend of mine asked me to look into her whereabouts," The asari said, swirling her drink. "Considering that she hasn't been easy to find since that assassination attempt."

His mandibles twitched. This asari knew too much. "Whose your friend?"

The asari smiled smugly. "I'll tell you if you tell me where she's at."

Derimus motioned his head at the door. "You might want to leave. Aria doesn't like people asking about _her_."

"Of course she wouldn't," The asari said as she set her glass on the counter. "I wouldn't want anyone around asking questions about my girlfriend."

"How the hell-"

"Look," the asari leaned against the counter. "I work for Commander Shepard."

"That doesn't mean shit to me," Derimus said coldly. "Shepard has no influence here."

"I beg to differ," the asari said, straightening up. "Thanks for the drink."

Derimus watched her set down a credit chit and leave, walking to the entrance to Purgatory, vanishing from his line of sight. He didn't tear his eyes away until his omni-tool chimed. He turned it on, clicking on the message from Aria almost immediately.

_A:Problems?_

_D:That depends on what you definition of problem is._

_A:Was she asking about Lauren?_

_D:Yeah. Said she works for Commander Shepard._

_A:__That's because she does. I'll handle it._

Aria closed the conversation and turned off her omni-tool, looking towards the door. The older asari knew who the younger asari was and was a little surprised that she didn't come up to Aria and ask her directly about where Lauren was herself. Aria looked at her omni-tool and then at her nearby guards. She beckoned Bray forward. The batarian obliged, getting close enough to her so that the others wouldn't overhear their conversation, granted that they could hear over the music.

"She's never this late. Start looking for her," Aria said quietly. "But be discreet about it. I don't want anyone knowing."

Bray nodded, turning on his own omni-tool and walking away. Aria had faith in the batarian to an extent, but she was still worried. Lauren had said she would probably be late because she was doing something before she came in to the bar. She'd left early this morning, long before Aria would have even considered getting up. Something in the pit of Aria's stomach told her that something was not right. Something was not right at all.

* * *

SLAM. Lauren's back hit the crate harder than she expected. She groaned, inwardly thanking Athame that she had put on her armor this morning. This biotic that she was fighting was stronger than she expected. She looked at the biotic, her hand gripping her pistol, which was still in its holster at her waist. The woman was wearing some sort of ungodly red armor and was carrying a top of the line submachine gun in her left hand. If Lauren had to guess who she was on the spot, she'd say the bitch was an assassin. She kept running into those lately.

"Alright," Lauren said as she stood up. "Let's try this again. When I ask who you are and who you work for, you're going to tell me. You're not going to throw me into a packing crate."

"And why," The assassin raised an eyebrow. "Would I do that? You can barely stand. You aren't as much as a fight as they said you'd be. I put on this armor for nothing."

Lauren grinned inwardly. "So they did warn you? Good. That means I don't have to go through the courtesy of explaining why the hell you're about to get your ass kicked."

Before the assassin could laugh at Lauren's comment, she found herself staring at a very large shockwave. She dodged it, only barely, and looked back at the human. All she saw was an empty space where she'd once been standing.

"What the hell?" She felt a sudden crackle of energy at her back. She turned, only to see a glowing hand, before she was violently thrown across the room. Her body slammed into a wall with enough force to knock the air from her lungs.

Lauren watched numbly and rubbed at her wrist. Whoever hired her had warned her of her biotics, but had not warned her about how much energy Lauren actually threw into her attacks.

"Everybody underestimates the short, little, blonde human." Lauren said casually. "Tell me, assassin, who hired you?"

The other woman moved slightly, still attempting to recover from hitting the steel wall. She had hit her head pretty hard, and if Lauren had to guess, she probably had a very large concussion right about now.

"Fuck you," the assassin groaned.

Lauren scoffed. "Oh please, you're not my type, sweetheart." She walked over, aiming her pistol at the other woman's head. "Who hired you?" she demanded.

"Kiss my ass."

Lauren frowned and put her pistol away, bringing up her right hand. The assassin's body glowed blue for a brief second before she was thrown up in the air and slammed back down. Lauren thought she'd heard a scream, but it was drowned out by the noise of a limp body slamming into steel. She walked over and nudged the assassin's shoulder with her foot.

"I didn't throw you hard enough to kill you. But you must be in a lot of pain right now," Lauren said coldly. "Tell me who hired you and I won't do that again."

"H-his name is Sedgewick," the assassin groaned. "He works for the embassy."

"Thank you," Lauren said, pulling out her pistol. "I'll make sure to tell him you're sorry for failing to kill me."

"Wait-"

Lauren pulled the trigger, effectively shooting the woman in the head. She didn't know why every assassin she met didn't wear a damn helmet. It would save them the trouble of being executed quickly. Not that it matter really, Lauren didn't mind not having to clean herself up. But there was something about strangling someone to death. It was just so satisfying.

"I'm starting to sound like a serial killer." Lauren shook her head and holstered her pistol. "Anto should be rolling in his grave right about now."

She looked up towards the center of the Citadel, at the ring that was the Presidium. Aria would kill her if she went there instead of going straight to the bar, but it was still early.

"I'm sure she wouldn't mind." Lauren turned on her omni-tool. "I have two hours before I'm late. Looks like I'm making a trip to the Presidium today after all."

* * *

_Author Notes: Bioware owns every scrap of the ME universe. This story is not canon. I recommend reading my story When the Mind Forgets first. Thanks for reading!_


	2. Chapter 2

For the first time in seventy-two hours, Commander Aeron Shepard was finally able to relax. She was lying on her bed, her arms outstretched, with her feet dangling off the edge. Her uniform was lying in a crumpled heap at the bottom of her bed, leaving her in a thin white undershirt and blue shorts. She'd even managed to take her hair down before she'd collapsed on her bed an hour ago.

Somewhere below her, on the lower decks of the Normandy, some of her crew was returning. She'd given twenty-four hours of shore leave for the entire crew, with the requirement that they get their work done before they leave. They'd all been through hell and Shepard wanted to be sure that the crew didn't try to kill each other because they were stressed. She glanced at the clock with one eye, noting that the first wave of crew was coming in after only being out for eleven hours. She could only assume that they were either too drunk or too tired to remain on the Citadel and had come back to the Normandy.

"Shepard," EDI's voice came from the speaker in her cabin.

"No," Shepard groaned. "There's no Shepard in here."

"Shepard, Liara T'Soni would like to speak with you as soon as you can." EDI said, ignoring Shepard's protest.

Shepard brought her hands up to her face and rubbed at her forehead. "Did she say what it was about?"

There was a second before EDI responded. "She says that it involves the request that you made."

Shepard sighed and sat up. "Can she come up here? I don't feel like moving."

It was a few seconds before EDI replied. "She will be in your cabin in a few minutes, Commander."

"Thank you, EDI." Shepard rubbed at her neck. A sudden thought came to her head. "Can you do me a favor and bother Commander Deacon, if he's still on board? Tell him to come up here also."

"Of course, Commander." EDI said. The speaker clicked, telling her that EDI had zoned out of the room.

Shepard stretched and stood up, collecting her clothes from the floor. The rest of the room was clean and organized, despite the fact that Shepard's appearance was not. Liara and Deacon wouldn't care if she were almost in her skivvies - Liara was a good friend and Deacon was in training with her. He'd seen much worse than her skivvies before. But she hated if her room wasn't presentable. It was a pet peeve, a weird pet peeve that bugged her horrendously. She heard her cabin door open and looked up. Liara walked in her room, not even taking her time to glance around the cabin.

"Come right in."

"Sorry, Aeron," Liara didn't even blink. "It's just that this information is too important to wait."

"What did you find out?" Shepard asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Find out what?" Deacon walked in, messing with his omni-tool.

Shepard mentally made a note to hide his omni-tool from him later. "What exactly," Shepard turned to Liara. "Did you find?"

"Three things. One, your friend is very good at hiding her tracks. It took me almost four hours to find any record of her entering the Citadel. Immigration has no record of her entering legally, and my informants wouldn't talk. She's good at staying invisible - something I suspect she learned from T'Loak. Two, she's been fighting off Cerberus agents and assassins since she's arrived on the Citadel. And three," Liara took a deep breath. "She's currently missing."

Deacon looked up from his omni-tool, stopping in the middle of his programming. He and Shepard exchanged looks. "What do you mean when you say she's "missing"?"

"That no one, including Aria, knows where she is at all. There seems to be some belief amongst Aria's men that she may be in some serious danger. Aria has what's left of her forces looking for her, but there hasn't been any news." Liara explained quietly. "Shepard - I can't find anything either. She's gone off the grid."

"She's gone?" Deacon asked quietly.

Shepard looked at Deacon before looking at Liara. "How long has she been gone?"

"Since 0830 this morning on the Citadel," Liara answered.

Deacon looked at his omni-tool. "It's 2130 now. That's thirteen hours, Shepard."

"You're sure she hasn't sent any word to Aria about where she is?" Shepard asked.

Liara shook her head. "No. I'm convinced that T'Loak knows nothing."

Shepard uncrossed her arms and put her thumb up to her mouth, chewing on it lightly. Both Deacon and Liara knew that action. Shepard was deep in thought, processing all the information that Liara had just given her. She had intended to recruit Lauren Hackett if she could - her biotics and combat skills were something that she could use in her fight against the Reapers. But this? This complicated things. If Lauren was missing - even from Aria's and the Shadow Broker's view - then something was horribly wrong. Shepard knew that Lauren reported to Aria every few hours; the asari had told her that while she was visiting Omega before she attacked the Collectors. Aria had said that only to assure Shepard that she had some control over the mercenary - Shepard had been wrong to doubt it. Lauren had seemed well under Aria's watchful gaze when Shepard had seen her. Granted, Shepard had only seen her for a brief few minutes. But it was enough to tell her that if Aria didn't know and it had been thirteen hours; then something was wrong.

"What are you thinking?" Deacon asked.

Shepard looked at him, a cold professional look on her face. "That I should go pay a visit to the mercenary queen again. You in?"

"Of course," Deacon nodded.

"Liara?"

The asari shook her head. "I would love to, but I have things I have to check on. If I remember correctly, Vega hasn't left the Normandy yet for leave. He also knows the bar."

"Can you go tell him to get his things then?" Shepard asked Deacon. "We meet at the airlock in ten - we're headed straight to Purgatory."

"Yes, Commander." Deacon left her room quickly; the cabin door sliding shut behind him.

"Off the record, Liara," Shepard looked at the asari. "How bad do you think it is?"

Liara's face went cold and still - a combination that Shepard both feared and expected. "Be prepared for anything, Shepard. I don't think we can trust the Citadel anymore."

And with that, Liara left Shepard standing in the middle of her cabin. Shepard watched her go, her green eyes narrowed at the floor. Her head was swimming with thoughts and different things that she remembered from before her trip to the Collector base - from her one fateful meeting with the biotic mercenary on Omega. Needless to say, it had not been entirely pleasant. Despite the fact that they had forgiven each other, there was still tension between the two of them when it came to their work ethics. She decided to drop the subject and narrowed her eyes further. Where had she thrown her sock?

* * *

Aria tapped her foot, her arms crossed in front of her chest. Her mind was a maelstrom; filled with thoughts of doubt, terror, and absolute panic. But instead of showing these emotions, she chose to show frustration, playing the role of the 'impatient' boss. If her men caught any sign of weakness, it could severely damage her plans to take back Omega. And it could get her killed.

Bray stood nearby, furiously working on his omni-tool over Purgatory's loud music. A message appeared on his screen, forcing the batarian to stop what he was doing and read it. "Commander Shepard is on her way here."

The asari matriarch didn't even blink. She had already figured that Liara T'Soni would go straight to the Spectre with the news that Lauren was missing. What she didn't know was whether Shepard was coming to confront her personally or to offer her help. If the asari had to guess, she'd put money on the offer for help. Shepard was too much of goody-two-shoes. She couldn't help it either, according to Lauren's memories. The woman was a pure paragon that loved to shoot things. Aria didn't like it and preferred Lauren's renegade behavior more. But then again, Lauren was the one missing. Maybe there was some truth to the paragon way when it came to keeping oneself out of danger. But then again Shepard had died once…

"Clear Purgatory; tell everyone we're closing early," Aria said to Bray. "And turn off that damn music."

"Right away," Bray vanished from her sight, leaving her alone on her couch. Her other men took the hint and moved away from her, giving the asari a wide berth. No one wanted to piss her off.

It didn't take long for the bar to empty. There wasn't that many people present in the place to begin with - happy hour had ended a while ago. Aria stood up when the music ended; her eyes in the direction of the bar's entrance. She could hear armored footsteps almost immediately and watched as Shepard entered Purgatory, a determined look on her face. It didn't even take her four seconds to march her way into Aria's space.

"Can I help you Commander?" Aria asked.

"Tell me about Lauren Hackett," Shepard's voice was strictly professional, as was the look on her face.

"What about her?" Aria moved away, turning her back on the Commander.

"Cut the crap, Aria. I know she's missing."

Aria looked at her guards. "Get lost." She ordered.

Shepard watched the guards leave, headed for the bar. As if on cue, a turian walked up from the direction of the bar, his mandibles twitching in frustration. Aria waved him over and he took a spot next to Bray.

"How much did T'Soni tell you?" Aria asked.

Shepard crossed her arms. "That she went missing about fourteen hours ago and you have what's left of your organization out looking for them."

"So you know nothing," the turian said. He looked at Aria. "What's the harm?"

"You may not see the harm in having them look for her, but I do." Aria looked directly at Shepard and crossed her arms. "She has a nasty habit of blowing things up."

Deacon scoffed. "Technically things blow up around her, if you look at it from the right angle."

"Aria, I know you lost half your organization when you lost Omega. I know you can't spare a lot of your men to go looking for her," Shepard pointed out. "And I can look where you can't."

So she was fishing to help. Aria exchanged glances with Derimus, who nodded slightly. This was what they were hoping for. "We know," Derimus spoke up. "That she was looking into a problem in the warehouses on the second ward when she ran into some trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" Shepard asked.

"An assassin," Aria answered coldly. "There have been more than a few sent after her. Cerberus is attempting to be rid of her, to keep me from taking back Omega."

"How do you know it was an assassin?" Deacon asked.

"We found the body," Bray spoke up. "It looks like Sapphire easily killed her – she probably wasn't told exactly who she was dealing with."

"And how do you know that?" Vega asked.

"Broken bones consistent with a sharp impact and then a bullet hole between the eyes." Bray looked back down at his omni-tool.

"It's a clean kill, even for her." Derimus said, bringing a hand up to scratch at his face with one talon. Aria shot him a disapproving look. "What," he asked. "We both know that she's left bigger messes before. Hell, we spent a week scrubbing the blood off the walls after the first assassin managed to get in the bar."

"I remember." Aria walked away from everyone and sat down. She leaned into her couch and put her hands in her lap. "Tell them your theory."

"We think she wandered into an ambush," Derimus explained. "And there must have been more of them then she initially thought."

"How do you figure that?" Vega asked.

"Lauren wouldn't go down easily otherwise," Shepard told James. She looked at Derimus. "Any leads on where she might have headed?"

"There was a note on the assassin's omni-tool. It said something about the embassy on the Presidium; you should start there." Derimus said.

Shepard nodded and turned to leave.

"Shepard," Aria's voice made the human turn to look at her. "She is one of my agents," the asari pointed out. "I would like her returned to me when you find her."

Shepard nodded and headed for the door to Purgatory. Deacon and Vega walked close behind her, trying to keep pace with the Commander.

"What's eating you," Deacon asked.

Shepard walked to a nearby elevator and hit the up button. "Aria said that there have been other assassins – all hired by Ceberus."

"So?" Deacon asked.

Shepard hit the button again. "When have we ever found anyone alive that's been taken by Cerberus?" She looked at Deacon. "We found Admiral Kohaku after he'd been missing for twelve hours - only after he'd been used as a test subject."

* * *

"She's still resisting," Agent Sedgewick observed. He picked up the towel on the nearby table and began to wipe his hands.

"And you're surprised?" Another Cerberus agent asked.

"Not in the slightest." Sedgewick looked at the door that led to the room they'd thrown the blonde woman in. They'd only had her for a few hours, but she hadn't said anything except the occasional bouts of asari swear words. He couldn't understand anything she said, but it was interesting to listen to. "He said she'd put up a fight."

"Seventeen dead," The other agent said bitterly. "We had better get the information you said that she knows."

"She works for T'Loak – she must know the plans to take back Omega. The General asked us-"

"I know what the General asked," the other agent retorted hotly. "But I don't think that any information she could give us is worth the seventeen lives she took."

"A necessary sacrifice," Sedgewick gestured to the door. "She will give us that information."

"You had better hope you're right," the other agent said coldly. "Or you'll be the one to explain why half of my men are dead to the General."


	3. Chapter 3

Her ribcage hurt. No wait, correction; everything hurt. Lauren lay on her back staring at the ceiling of the room she was being kept in. If she had to guess she'd say that at least three of her ribs were broken and that some parts of her cybernetics in her left arm were broken. She only knew that because the arm refused to move even an inch. But then again, her whole body refused to move too.

When they'd captured her, and she said that word lightly in her head, they'd thrown some sort of dust in her face. She'd say it was red sand but her biotics refused to work instead of getting that weird, but very brief boost that the sand gave to non-biotics. She was sure of one thing though; the dust was yellow and prevented her from moving or using her biotics at all. So there she was, beaten up and bloody, lying on the ground in what appeared to be a small little room. It reminded her of a closet. Correction; it probably was a closet in…where ever she was.

Agent Sedgewick had planned an ambush in the fourth ward by the slums – anyone with a brain could have seen it was a trap – but Lauren had gone in anyways. She had assumed that there would have been maybe ten Cerberus troops. But no, there had been about thirty. She was outnumbered and quickly overwhelmed, but not before she had been fucking drugged. She had already decided that the moment she got the feeling back in her right arm that she would strangle Sedgewick to death. And that bitch of a partner he had.

That reminded her of something she'd overheard earlier. Sedgewick had called her Sapphire instead of Lauren; which confirmed what Lauren had thought of while she was tossing Sedgewick's office in the embassy. They didn't know who she really was. They only knew her as Sapphire, one of Aria's agents. Not as Lauren Hackett, Aria's loyal second-in-command and current girlfriend. Either Cerberus was finally getting sloppy in their work, or Sedgewick thought she wasn't that much of a threat and didn't research her completely.

A sudden amount of approaching footsteps from near the only door into the room (from what she'd gathered, she was unable to turn her head) made her snap out of her thoughts.

"Look who's still awake." It was the bitch. Go figure.

"_Crawl in a hole and die, Cerberus bitch._" Lauren hissed in asari.

"And she's still refusing to speak English. You're a poor excuse for a human being. My partner has to go back to work at the embassy, so we get to have some fun." Lauren saw a familiar flash in the dim light. The bitch had brought a knife. "So tell me, what does Aria have planned?"

"_Filthy Cerberus whore."_ Lauren spat out.

The bitch sighed dramatically, pulling the knife out of its sheath and leaning over Lauren's limp form. "You made me do this, you know. I'm afraid I'm not going to go easy on you."

"_Fuck you and your little knife."_

* * *

Shepard had gotten an email with the information that Aria had managed to dig up about where Lauren had been headed. It had said something about the embassy, which made Shepard's job so much easier. All she had to do was ask around and find out what people knew. And people would tell her everything they knew, partly because Shepard was just that persuasive, and because she intimidated the hell out of them. Deacon was the same way at the present, giving any C-Sec officer who came near them the evil-eye stare. James Vega just followed behind the duo, watching everyone else's expressions as they passed.

"So what exactly are we going to do?" James asked. "Just walk around the Presidium hanging up lost flyers or something?"

Deacon made a face. "I wish it were that easy. She'd make every precaution on the way into the Presidium to not be seen; its unlikely that we'll just find a random person that's seen her."

"She went into the embassy or was headed for it, so that's a good place to start." Shepard said, steering herself towards the large white building in front of her. "We ask the receptionists, all the embassy workers we can find. Don't believe anyone whose enthusiastic about giving an answer."

"What?" James asked.

"They're lying if they're enthusiastic about their answer. The ones that looked dazed and confused when they give their answers are usually right." Shepard explained.

"That's not standard training," Deacon commented.

Shepard shrugged. "When you have to work politics as a Spectre, you kind of figure that shit out really fast."

"Right," Deacon sounded amused. "Should we split up?"

Shepard stopped walking and turned, forcing the other two men to stop. "Why didn't I think of that?" She grumbled. "Alright. Vega go ask the embassy aids. Deacon you go bug the receptionists. I'm going into the embassy offices to see if she headed up there."

Deacon and Vega nodded and both moved off. Deacon headed for the group of asari receptionists at the front of the embassy building, while Vega headed for a cluster of embassy aids that looked like they were taking a break. Shepard headed into the embassy, aiming herself for the first door on the right. On her way there, she turned on her omni-tool and forwarded Lauren's picture to the guys' omni-tools. Hopefully someone here would remember seeing the mercenary.

"Where the hell could she be?" Shepard mumbled to herself, walking around a cluster of people. "People don't just disappear."

* * *

Aria paced across her apartment floor. She'd left Purgatory a few minutes after Shepard did, in what she considered was a vain attempt at calming down. So far it had done nothing but drive her frustrations deeper into her brain. She knew that she shouldn't be freaking out about this; Shepard and her two crew members were looking for her. And they'd find her - Shepard never failed at finding people. It was what the human was good for, besides explosions and gunfights. Lauren would be found. She had to be found. Not just because Aria cared deeply for the human mercenary, but because she was also vital to Aria's plans. The asari matriarch had already put Lauren into account when it came to the battle to retake Omega - a battle that was icthingly close to being possible. But Lauren was gone, leaving the asari without the company that she enjoyed, and the mercenary that she relied on.

But Shepard was looking for her. Shepard. Aria stopped and sat down on her couch, rubbing her face with her hands. If the situation was different, Aria knew that the Spectre would ask for Lauren's help in the war, and she had no doubt that Lauren would accept that offer. The two were two cuts from the same cloth, made from the same threads. Of course they were both different shapes now, each battered and worn in their own ways, but when it came down to it - the two were almost the same. The only major difference that existed between the two of them, that Aria had noticed, was the way they went around the same problems.

Shepard was more political and polite, going out of her way to make sure she didn't step on the wrong toes. Lauren was the opposite; she had a habit of diving headfirst into any situation and ignoring the obvious boundary lines. But both ways worked. Shepard's solutions however pleased everyone, while Lauren's seemed to favor which side hadn't messed with her. But then again, the two did both favor the same approach when it came to firefights and battles. Overwhelm and advance. It was only their political views and the way they found solutions to the same problems that differed.

Aria sighed, ending the thought process in her head in favor of checking her omni-tool. There was a message from Shepard, short and simple.

_We have a lead._


	4. Chapter 4

Shepard drummed her fingers against her arm, examining the receptionists' faces as she did so. She'd told Aria that they had a lead – and they did – but she wasn't entirely happy with what she was hearing.

"You're telling me," Shepard said slowly. "That a blonde, short human came by and asked about an embassy paper-pusher."

One of the receptionists nodded. She gestured to her friend. "And I didn't know the name, so I asked Sari if she knew him."

"And I said I did," Sari answered, nodding her head. "Sedgewick Orlsen, he works as an administrator on the second floor."

"And so she went up to his office, office number four." The first receptionist said. "About ten minutes later she came back down and headed off towards the elevator that leads down to the wards."

"So she came, went up to the office, and then left?" Shepard asked.

Sari and the other receptionist nodded.

"Anything else you can remember?" Shepard asked.

Sari and the first receptionist shook their heads. "No. Is that all you need, Commander?"

Shepard sighed. "Yes, thank you."

Shepard turned around and looked at Deacon and Vega. "He's in office number twenty-four. Let's go."

Deacon and Vega walked after her, trying to keep up with the Commander's quick pace. Anyone who knew the Commander could tell that she was worried. And Deacon was too. The odds of finding Lauren at all now, dead or alive, were dwindling into single digits as time went on. They had to find another lead now, and hopefully the office would reveal something. Shepard only stopped her quick pace when she finally found the office door she was looking for.

_Sedgewick Orlsen, Embassy Accountant_

"An accountant?" Deacon asked skeptically.

"Everyone has to pay taxes," Vega looked at Shepard. "Are we going to knock or-?"

Shepard looked at the red lock on the door and then motioned for Deacon. He went to work immediately on the holo-lock, hacking the circuits.

"Technically, this is illegal." Vega said to Shepard.

"Not when you're with a Spectre," Shepard said with a smirk.

The door flashed green and opened just as Deacon stepped away from the lock. "After you, Commander." He said gesturing inside.

Shepard snorted and walked past him into the office. She stopped dead in her tracks, staring around the office. "It's been searched."

Deacon looked over her shoulder and squeezed around the Commander. "I'm going to assume that this is what Lauren was doing up here before she left."

"She must have found something that led her somewhere else," Vega followed Deacon, looking around the room. "If I had to guess at this point, I'd say she went after that Sedgewick guy."

Shepard nodded, noticing the lack of any dead bodies. "And walked right into a trap."

"We both know that she doesn't just walk into traps." Deacon said while he turned on the lone terminal in the room. "She's smarter than that. The woman's survived being on Omega for years and hasn't turned up dead yet."

"That takes a special kind of skill," Vega commented as he looked through an already open safe. "Don't know how many times I almost ended up getting shot for walking down the wrong alleys at night."

"I'm pretty sure everyone you meet wants to shoot you at some point, James." Deacon said as he typed on the terminal. "Huh."

"What?" Shepard asked, abandoning her search through a pile of datapads.

"His daily planner and email are open." Deacon leaned close to the screen and narrowed his eyes. "Looks like he was going to meet someone at a warehouse in the wards - a client he payed a lot of money too. The warehouse is used for storing cargo to and from ships."

"Lauren left headed for the wards," Vega walked over.

Shepard crossed her arms in front of her chest. Deacon looked up at her. "What are you thinking, Shepard?"

"That there's no way in hell that they'd be keeping Lauren there."

"Why not?" Vega asked. "Warehouses are secluded, out of the way."

"Warehouses used for storage have people coming and going at different times of the day, they'd risk being found." Deacon answered. "They might have been able to overwhelm her there because of the tight spaces and vantage points. That's why the Alliance teaches you to always clear a building in pairs or in a group - your chances of being overtaken are less at that point."

Shepard nodded in agreement. "And with all the noise from a firefight, someone would have heard something and reported it. C-Sec would come down to check at some point; they may be busy with all the refugees but they would have gotten around to it eventually. Cerberus agents wouldn't risk it. They'd move, just to be safe."

"But where could they go?" Vega asked. "I don't know about you, but it'd seem really suspicious if a group of armed people walked across the wards with a captive."

"Point," Shepard said quietly.

Deacon snapped his fingers. "They could have drugged her."

Vega watched as Shepard gave Deacon her most are-you-fucking-serious-look. "Am I missing something?" he asked.

"Lauren's metabolic rate, even back when we were in training, was _legend._ I mean, biotic abilities aside, the woman could go through a bottle of painkillers quicker than a quarian would get a cold with a suit puncture." Deacon looked at the computer screen. "Everyone who can dig up her Alliance file would know that."

"What if they didn't know?" Vega asked.

Both the commanders turned to stare at him before they looked at each other.

"You don't think..."

"Liara said it took her a few hours to even find her because she was under an assumed name."

"Cerberus has been getting sloppy lately," Vega chimed in. "You said that yourself, Commander."

"If they aren't after Lauren Hackett," Deacon's brain was putting the pieces together quickly. "Then that mean's that they didn't do all of this just to _kill her_. They kidnapped her to get information..."

"On Aria?" Vega asked, coming to the conclusion quicker than Deacon expected. "Why?"

"Because Aria is planning on taking back Omega," Shepard realized. "So they picked the one person that they noticed was closest to Aria here on the Citadel."

"We need to figure out where they could have possibly taken her." Deacon went back to the terminal with Shepard watching over his shoulder.

After a few minutes of watching them, Vega decided he'd just go wait outside. He knew he'd just be getting in their way, and he'd seen what they could do to husks. As he walked out the door he noticed that a man was walking down the hallway. He glanced down the hallway and noticed that there were no other offices in the direction he was walking. There was only the office that Shepard and Deacon were currently searching in. Almost instantly, Vega remembered a trick that the'd learned from a mercenary friend on Omega while he was staying there. Act like you're looking for directions, compliment the person you're looking for unintentionally, and then knock them on their ass as soon as they confirmed who they were.

He walked down the hallway and pretended that he was on his omni-tool, looking for directions. When the man was about three feet from him, James looked up.

"Excuse me, hombre," James said. "I'm looking for an accountant, the receptionists said that his office was up here."

The man fell for it. "I'm an accountant on this floor; who were you looking for?"

"Orlsen. I heard he was one of the best."

The man seemed to brighten a bit. "I'm Sedgewick Orlsen."

James turned off his omni-tool. "I thought I was lost for a minute."

"No, you aren't lost. My office is actually right there-" He took a step past James, turning his back on the larger marine.

James pulled his right arm back and brought it down in between the man's shoulder blades, sending him to his knees almost instantly. Before he realized what was going on, James had his gun trained on him. "Move and I blow your head off. SHEPARD!" He bellowed at the office. "I FOUND HIM!"

Shepard came out of the office with a bewildered look on her face. When she realized that James had his gun aimed at someone on the floor, she stopped dead in her tracks. And then she smirked. "And Garrus said you're just a thick-headed marine."

Deacon peeked around the doorway. "Well that saves us some time at least."

"What the hell is going on?!" Sedgewick yelled from the floor, not moving. "I demand to know what's going on-"

"I'll be the one making the demands," Shepard said coldly. "You kidnapped a friend of mine down in the wards - in a warehouse. A woman."

Sedgewick narrowed his eyes. "I know nothing about that!"

"Shut up," Vega said. "We know you planned everything."

Sedgewick looked up at Shepard. "Who are you people?"

"Well the one with the gun to your head is Vega," Deacon came out of the doorway. "I'm Commander Deacon. That's Commander Shepard, a council Spectre."

Shepard took a step forward. "Back to the matter at hand, you kidnapped a friend of mine. Where is she?"

"I don't know who you're talking about-"

"Look," Shepard interupted him. "I know you work for Cerberus, I know you lured my friend into a trap in a warehouse. I know you drugged her and are currently keeping her somewhere. If you tell me where she is, I'll make sure that C-Sec doesn't consider the death penalty when they arrest you for being a terrorist."

Sedgewick looked at Shepard. In actuality, he wasn't really a full-fledged brainwashed Cerberus agent like his colleague was. He didn't possess the urge to die in vain for an organization that would kill him anyway. "They'll kill me."

"I'll kill you," Vega said gruffly.

"We'll make sure that doesn't happen." Shepard assured him. "Now where is she?"

"She's here on the presidium - one of the docking bays that's scheduled for repairs. Dock 13-C." Sedgewick caved in. "There's an agent there with her, with what's left of her reinforcements."

Shepard looked at Vega. "Call C-Sec and make sure he gets to their headquarters in one piece. Deacon and I will head to the docks right away."

Vega nodded. "Got it."


	5. Chapter 5

Tanya looked over Lauren's unconscious form. She had told Sedgewick time and time again that the woman didn't know a damn thing about Aria's plans, and she was right. Not only did she not know anything, but they were also wrong about who she was. She was not just Sapphire, one of Aria's mercenaries. She was Lauren Hackett, a sworn enemy of Cerberus who constantly undermined their plans on Omega and killed agents on a regular basis. Add her relationships to both Aria T'Loak and Commander Aeron Shepard into the mix, and Tanya was looking at a very dangerous situation. No longer was she just worrying about Aria's mercenaries finding them.

No. Now she was worrying about Shepard or Aria walking in and completely murdering her and her men without any mercy. Shepard was infamous amongst Cerberus for her innate ability to complete destroy her enemies without a second thought, Cerberus especially. Tanya had heard the stories and seen the carnage first hand, so it gave some reason to why she was currently scrambling to get her men stationed at the entrance to the dock, in case they came looking. Sedgewick had gone back to his office to contact the General and hadn't responded to her messages. She assumed he was either in shock or was attempting to explain to the General why they had kidnapped the one person that he had told them not to go anywhere near.

She nudged Lauren with her foot, getting no response from the woman. Instead, all Tanya had managed to do was get blood all over her boot. Lauren was still bleeding, slower now, from the deep cut that Tanya's knife had left in the woman's leg. She'd picked a spot away from her artery specifically so she wouldn't bleed to death immediately. But even if Shepard or Aria came looking for the human now, there was no way that they could save her in time.

"It's a pity," Tanya said quietly.

One of her men looked up at her. "What is ma'am?"

Tanya looked at him. She was, like other Cerberus agents, found of talking. "It's a pity that the infamous soldier turned mercenary - the survivor of Akuze and the Battle of the Citadel - meets her end like this. No glorious death in battle for the soldier that she once was; nor memorable end that mercenaries prefer. Just a slow, cold, and lonely death," Tanya shook her head. "Had she worked with Cerberus, she would have gotten the end that she deserved. What a pitiful waste of the bitch's talent."

* * *

Shepard picked up the pace, jogging quickly. She knew deep down in her gut that something was wrong. She'd already contacted the Normandy's medical staff in case she had to bring Lauren in for any sort of medical treatment. Any sort of hospital was too far away, but the Normandy itself was only a level up. She'd also heard back from Vega, who had successfully helped C-Sec take Sedgewick into custody without any sort of interference. Vega had also informed C-Sec of what they were doing, and some spare staff was headed towards the dock in case Shepard needed any sort of assistance. But in reality, they'd probably just be securing the scene once Shepard was finished. Or, Ashley's god forbid, they would be helping her transport Lauren's body.

But that wouldn't happen. Shepard and Deacon both silently refused to let it happen. Not as long as they could get to the dock quickly and find their missing friend.

Tanya got a call over her communications – someone was headed her men's way at the entrance. All of her fears were coming true. Shepard was on her way. There was no way the Spectre was going to reach Lauren without any sort of resistance. No. Tanya needed to watch the human die – as revenge for her brother and the men that Lauren had killed. She'd stop Shepard herself if she had to.

Shepard ducked behind some cover, pulling out her assault rifle. Deacon pulled out his own submachine gun and launched a combat drone. Shepard had managed to get a glimpse of how many Cerberus soldiers were in her way.

"How many?" she asked over the comm.

"I counted fourteen," Deacon said into the comm.

Shepard leaned out of her cover and fired, bringing a soldier down with ease. "Thirteen."

"Smartass," Deacon grumbled. "They're just assault troopers." He leaned out of cover and fired incinerate at a close cluster of three soldiers, effectively lighting them on fire and killing them. "Ten."

"Obviously they didn't know we were coming until just recently."

"Please let this be a quick fight," Deacon grunted.

Shepard left her cover and moved forward, firing her assault rifle at any soldier that happened to get in her sight. Deacon followed, picking at the soldiers that Shepard missed. Tanya watched from her own cover, at the far end of the dock near the storage room. The two were efficient killing machines. There were only a few men left now, the smarter ones hiding in cover all over the place.

"Alliance bitch!" Tanya yelled and threw a couple grenades in Shepard's way. "I'll make you pay for this!"

"Move!" Shepard yelled, throwing herself out of the way of the grenades. They exploded about ten feet away from her. Deacon had vaulted himself somewhere off to the left – disappearing from Shepard's sight.

A quick and more heavily armored opponent caught her attention. Shepard barely had time to register the word 'enemy' in her head before she started firing. The woman threw her omni-tool out, which Shepard knew to duck instantly, an incinerate blast going past her head.

Obviously, this was no run of the mill Cerberus agent.

She looked for Deacon, but couldn't see him. She was on her own here and that realization bugged her a little bit. He had better have a good excuse for her later or she might be tempted to throw him out the airlock.

* * *

Deacon looked at Shepard's hiding spot and then at the one lone agent that he could see far off to the left. It was odd to him, since all the other agents were all surrounding Shepard. He fiddled with his omni-tool and started up another combat drone, sending it off to assist Shepard before he ran from his own cover towards the other agent. There was only one reason why someone would be alone and standing near a door.

He had to be guarding something or someone.

Deacon brought his submachine gun up and fired with dead-on accuracy, taking down the agent's shields long before he reached him. The agent fired back, frantically aiming around and at Deacon as he ran towards him. There was nowhere for the agent to move to, leaving him open to a savage punch to the head fueled by Deacon's momentum. The agent's helmet cracked as his body slammed into the wall behind him. Deacon didn't let him recover and pulled up his submachine gun, firing into the downed agent's torso without any mercy.

When Deacon was sure the body had stopped twitching, he put his gun away and looked towards Shepard. Shepard looked annoyed as hell from what Deacon could tell – but she was kicking ass. It looked like he'd get in her way and turned his attention to the door the agent had been guarding.

He pushed it open and glanced around, his submachine gun up and ready in case someone lunged out at him. The overwhelming scent of blood hit his nose and he looked down. His blood froze in his veins. Lying on the floor, completely pale and covered in blood, was Lauren.

He holstered his gun and crouched next to her. She was still bleeding from what he could tell, so she was still alive. He noticed the cut on her leg and pressed his hands down on the cut, applying as much pressure as he could. She was cold.

"Lauren?" He asked frantically. "Lauren can you hear me?"

She didn't respond. Deacon didn't have much medical training – Shepard and Lauren did – but he knew enough to know that she was in immediate danger. She needed a doctor.

He pulled one hand away and turned on his omni-tool, contacting the Normandy. Joker answered immediately.

"What's up Commander?" the pilot asked in his ear.

"Joker - connect me to Chakwas immediately, it's an emergency." He said quickly.

"Hold on," the pilot picked up on the urgency in his voice. "Chakwas is listening."

"What's going on, Commander?" Chakwas asked.

"I found Lauren, she's bleeding and unconscious."

"Can you see where she's bleeding from?" Chakwas said quickly.

"It's a cut on her leg; I'm applying pressure to it. She's lost a lot of blood, Chakwas."

"Do you have any medi-gel?" Chakwas asked.

"I have a packet, why?" Deacon looked at Lauren's face, which was getting paler.

"If she's still bleeding, you can stop it. Open that packet of medi-gel."

Deacon pulled his hand away and pulled out a spare packet of medi-gel. He should have grabbed more before he left the Normandy, but he couldn't change that now. "Alright, what now?"

"You need to open her cut as far as you can and pour the medi-gel in and around the wound. It'll act as a temporary tourniquet until you can get her here to the Normandy." Chakwas explained.

Deacon's stomach did a flip-flop. He hated first aid. "Be prepared, Chakwas. She's lost a lot of blood." He opened the package and did as Chakwas told him; opening the cut on Lauren's leg and poured as much of the medi-gel as he could into her wound. The bleeding slowed and finally stopped.

Deacon pulled his hands back. "The bleeding's stopped," He said into his comm.

"Good," Chakwas said. "Tell me, can you get her pulse? How's she breathing? Is she cold?"

Deacon pulled off his glove and pressed two fingers against Lauren's neck. It took him a second, but he could feel a faint pulse underneath his fingers. "She's got a weak pulse and she's freezing." He looked at her chest, trying to see if it was moving. When he didn't see anything he put his ear over her head, attempting to hear her breathing. He could barely hear the noise of her breathing.

"She's barely breathing, Chakwas." Deacon said.

"Commander you need to bring her here as soon as you can," Chakwas sounded urgent. "If you wait any longer she may die on the way. I'm contacting Vega to have him clear a path to the Normandy."

Deacon left his comm channel on and bent over, scooping Lauren up in his arms. He'd faced Torfan calm, but the sight of Lauren limp and bloody in his arms terrified him. He didn't waste any time getting out of the small room and into the open dock. He hugged the wall, noticing that Shepard was still taking out the last agents at the far end of the dock with her sniper rifle. He ran as quickly as he could with Lauren in his arms, not wanting to throw her over his shoulder like he'd do with a wounded marine. He was afraid that he'd just make things worse. He was afraid that he would kill her.

"If you fucking die on me," Deacon said in between breaths as he ran. "You better not fucking die on me."


	6. Chapter 6

Shepard fired off a concussive shot, effectively sending the agent down to the ground for the last time. She tentatively walked forward, her assault rifle trained on the prone form. She extended her boot and gently scuffed the agent's side. The body didn't move, confirming the fact that Shepard did kill her. A sudden noise to her left made her swing her rifle around, aiming it at the person standing there. When she realized it was Vega, she lowered her gun.

"Do not do that, Lieutenant," Shepard said as she put her gun away. "I could have shot you."

"Sorry, boss." James Vega said gruffly. "Is she dead?"

"I shot a concussive shot at her head; I don't think anyone could survive that." Shepard explained.

"Good point," Vega said with a nod.

Shepard looked up and at the cluster of C-Sec officers that were scouring the immediate area. She couldn't see Deacon. "Where's Josiah?"

Vega shook his head. "At the Normandy by now – we ran into him on our way in. That woman he was holding looked like-"

"What woman?" Shepard asked urgently. "Was she okay?"

"She looked like she was in bad shape, Commander. One of the C-Sec officers opened up an emergency storage elevator to get her to the Normandy. They're probably there now; those elevators go fucking faster than normal elevators."

"Was Chakwas told?" Shepard put her rifle away. The urge to head for the Normandy immediately was rising.

"She told me to get the elevator open, but that was a few minutes ago. I'm sure she's taking care of her now. Commander," Vega looked at Shepard. "She looked bad."

Shepard looked around before looking at Vega. "Stay here and help C-Sec, I'm headed for the Normandy."

Vega nodded his head. "Better go fast, Shepard."

* * *

Aria walked as quickly as she could without suspicion out of Purgatory. Bray had to jog just to keep up with the matriarch, but he wasn't going to complain. She'd gotten a call from one of the Commanders about Lauren. Apparently, according to the short amount of information that Bray had heard, she was in surgery on board the Normandy. Anyone with a brain knew that Aria was going to head there straight away – she was Lauren's bondmate. She'd barked at Derimus to keep everyone in line, her version of 'you're in charge' and took off. Bray followed because it was his job to keep her safe – Lauren had hired the batarian for that specific reason. All he had to do was keep up with her pace on the way to the Normandy.

* * *

Shepard stood with her arms crossed, staring at the red door lock to the Normandy. Her crew moved anxiously around her, being careful not to bump or bother the worried woman. Deacon was leaning against the wall nearby, his eyes closed and his arms stuffed in his pockets.

Liara stood with a cup of tea in her hands, watching the pair quietly. Vega walked over, tilting his head to get a better look at the two of them.

"Do they know they're still in their armor?" Vega asked quietly.

Liara shook her head. "No, and don't go bother them about it. They need space right now, James."

"I know that," Vega said. "But does Deacon know that he's still covered in blood?"

"Is he?" Liara craned her head to get a better look at Deacon. "Oh goddess, he is. That's not his I hope."

"No, it's not." Garrus suddenly appeared behind Vega. "It's Lauren's."

"What are you doing down here?" Vega asked. "I thought you were working with Joker and EDI. "

"I was until Aria T'Loak contacted the Normandy," Garrus explained. "She's in the airlock as we speak."

"Oh shit," Vega looked at Liara. "Should we bother them now?"

Liara nodded and set her tea down. The trio approached carefully. Deacon looked up at them when they approached and nudged Shepard with his foot. Shepard startled and looked at Deacon with a scathing look, before realizing that others were there.

"What?" Shepard asked irritably.

"Aria T'Loak is here." Garrus said.

"Fuck," Shepard brought her hands up to rub at her face. "Josiah-"

"I had to call her," Deacon answered irritably. "Because I knew you wouldn't."

"What the hell are we going to tell her? Sorry but Lauren's probably dead or dying as we speak?"

"WHAT?" Aria's voice made the occupants of the entire mess hall jump. "What the fuck is going on, Shepard?"

The asari was standing about ten feet from her with an ensign and batarian right behind her. The ensign looked like she might piss her pants and the batarian was watching Shepard with a look that more than told her to be careful. And she knew that, in fact Aria reminded her somewhat of the bombs on Eden Prime that needed to be defused. If Shepard didn't tread carefully, she would probably come face-to-face with the mercenary's legendary biotics.

"She was bleeding to death when we found her," Shepard answered quickly. "Doctor Chakwas has her in the medical bay – she's going through surgery. Chakwas has her whole medical staff with her, so I'm sure it won't be long until we know something about Lauren's condition."

Shepard's quick response silenced Aria's mouth, but not her brain. On the outside she still looked tense, but longer completely pissed. But inside she was struggling with a hurricane of questions that she wanted to ask. Not to mention the rising urge to rip the medical bay doors open. But she was on Shepard's ship, in front of Shepard's crew. The Spectre would probably kill her if she attempted any of that. There was only one option while she was on board. She had to keep up her façade; she was Lauren's boss, not her bondmate.

But that didn't mean she still couldn't be pissed.

"The bastard that put her in there, is he dead?" Aria asked, gritting her teeth.

Shepard nodded. "The bitch who put her in there is dead, yes. The bastard who planned it is currently in custody at C-Sec."

Aria narrowed her eyes at Shepard. "You let him _live_?"

"If we had killed him, we would have never have known where they were keeping her. And had we been a minute later, she would be dead now." Deacon answered coldly.

"You should have shot him anyway," Aria snapped angrily.

"Then we'd never find out who's actually behind this," Shepard snapped back.

Aria was staring at Shepard, posturing herself. She was attempting to keep her anger reigned in, but she was failing at it and it was obvious to Shepard. "We all know who's behind this, _Commander_."

"I highly doubt that the Illusive Man is taking out hits on the mercenaries that are currently working for you just because he can, _T'Loak._"

At this point, it was obvious that both women were throwing professionalism out the window in this conversation. Liara knew that they wouldn't dare attempt to kill each other, but there was still the possibility of the crew getting in between them and getting hurt. Liara made a motion for Garrus to come closer to her. When the turian obeyed she leaned over towards the side of his head. "Clear the crew deck quietly, just in case."

Garrus nodded and moved away from Liara, grabbing Vega by the arm and explaining what they were doing. They began to clear the deck silently, getting the crew into the elevator without any sort of fuss.

"What are you saying, Shepard? That I'm wrong?"

"I'm saying that you have to consider the possibility that all of this has been an isolated incident, not a conspiracy." Shepard said tensely.

"Even if it's not the Illusive Man's orders, it's still Cerberus." Aria spat. "And the Illusive Man's still on the top of my shit list."

"Oh for the love of all things, shut the hell up, both of you." Deacon snapped. "Who cares who's behind what? That doesn't change the fact that Lauren's still hurt. Why don't the two of you stop bitching and focus on _her_? The Illusive Man is on the top of everyone's shit list right next to the Reapers." He pushed himself off the wall, walking to stand between to the two of them. "But our first concern should be her and her recovery."

Aria and Shepard looked at each other. It was no use continuing their pissing match over whose fault this was. Deacon was right; Lauren should be their first and only concern for the time being. Shepard turned away first, focusing her eyes on the blacked out medical bay.

"Good." Deacon said firmly. He looked at Aria. "You're welcome to stay until we know anything."

Aria nodded and moved away, deciding that she would have a better view from leaning up against the lone counter in the mess hall. Bray followed her and chose to lean against the wall near the only entrance into the mess hall.

Liara gave everyone in the space a rather skeptical look before she retreated into her office. She had work to do and she preferred to go back to the silence of the computer servers.

Deacon sighed and looked down at his feet. He noticed an odd brownish color on his armor and squinted. His armor was navy blue. He leaned back and examined his armor, realizing that the brownish color was drying blood. He gagged internally. "Holy fuck I'm covered in blood."

Shepard looked at him. "Go get changed and come back. She'll still be waiting for us."

"She'd better," Deacon said quietly so that only Shepard could hear him. "She promised."


	7. Chapter 7

The Normandy was quiet. Normally the ship was quiet when people returned from a shore leave, but this was no normal silence. People were moving about their duties rather than sleeping on the crew deck. No one, including Garrus, dared to even step foot inside the mess hall. Below the whole crew in the CIC sat three people at the mess hall table, awaiting any word from Chakwas or the medical team about the person inside. So far, it'd been about six hours since Deacon had managed to carry the injured woman onto the Normandy. The tension coming from the Commanders alone had startled the crew, but the tension around Aria's arrival had completely scared them all off. It was understandable, from Deacon's point of view, to allow Aria to stay until they received any sort of word about Lauren's condition from Chakwas. Shepard was going to let her anyways, even after their little spat. But none of the medical team had even emerged from the medical bay, and EDI wasn't speaking about the condition of the woman inside, stating that Chakwas had asked the AI to refrain from interrupting surgery.

So there they were; Shepard and Deacon sitting at the mess hall table while Aria stood off to the side. Aria had excused Bray hours ago, deciding to remain alone on board the Normandy. Deacon had collapsed in a chair at the far end of the table. Shepard had attempted to drink a cup of coffee but instead was staring into the depths of the now cold drink, her hands still wrapped around it.

"Why haven't we heard anything?" Shepard asked quietly, catching the other occupants of the room off-guard. "It's been too long."

Deacon glanced at the medical bay windows. "It's only been six hours."

"That's six hours too long," Aria was also being quiet. "She shouldn't have gotten hurt in the first place. I tell her all the time to stay out of trouble."

"She's never stayed out of trouble, not for as long as we've known her." Shepard shoved her coffee aside and set her head down on the table.

"Does your doctor know what she's doing?" Aria asked quietly.

Deacon nodded. "She's one of the best in the Alliance."

"Then why is it taking so long?"

"I don't know," Shepard mumbled. "I don't know."

The three of them went back to being silent, theirs thoughts still focused on the person lying behind a steel wall about twelve feet away.

* * *

The silence of the medical bay was calming after the last few hours of complete chaos. Dr. Karin Chakwas had no problem with noise; in fact she was quite used to it. But it was helpful while she was examining her patient after a grueling six hours of surgery and treatment. A member of her medical team appeared at her elbow, a distressed look on his face.

"Commander-"

"Commander Shepard is still outside, yes I know." She looked back at her patient and adjusted the tubing for one of the IV's that was attached to the woman's right arm. "She and the others can be patient a little longer while I make sure our new guest is comfortable."

Chakwas turned her attention back to her patient. Lauren was still unconscious and probably would be for a few more hours. On top of loosing most of her blood to a laceration, Lauren had also sustained injuries to her head, ribcage, and left arm. But despite all that, she was alive.

Chakwas extended her hand and pressed it to Lauren's cheek. The woman's was still a bit cold. "Fetch me one of the heavier warming blankets," Chakwas ordered someone standing at her elbow.

They disappeared only to re-appear a second later, with a large heavy blue blanket in hand. Chakwas took it and unfolded it, setting it gently on top of Lauren. She spread the blanket out with a mother's tenderness - even tucking the blanket loosely underneath Lauren's legs. When she finished she gently set Lauren's right arm on top of the blanket and squeezed the woman's hand.

Chakwas had seen a lot of injuries in her time serving with the Alliance. On some level the doctor had told herself that she'd seen it all and that things could only get easier for her. But one look at her patient and she knew that this wouldn't be easy. And she had been right. The last six hours had proved to be more than difficult. Chakwas was sure that every injury that her patient had received had been treated. Only time would tell if her efforts would pay off.

Chakwas straightened up and moved away from her patient's bed and to the door to the medical bay. She unlocked the door and stepped outside the medical bay, taking immediate notice of the three lone occupants. And they took notice of her. Shepard stood up from the mess hall table and approached Chakwas with Deacon and Aria not too far behind her.

"How is she, Chakwas?" Shepard asked.

"She's stable and resting comfortably for now." Chakwas answered.

The elderly doctor watched as both Commanders instantly relaxed, but she noticed that the asari that was with them did not.

"Did the surgery go well?" the asari asked urgently.

Chakwas instantly knew what role the asari played in all this. She'd been asked the same question by loved ones before. "It was touch and go for a while – her injuries were severe."

"I'm guessing that's why it took six hours," Deacon crossed his arms in front of his chest. "How bad were her injuries?"

Chakwas sighed. "During the surgery to repair the damage done to her leg, I noticed some abnormal bruising on her chest."

"Broken ribs?" Shepard guessed.

Chakwas nodded. "The grand total was five, but that wasn't all. She also had a punctured lung and a ruptured spleen. We were forced to remove the spleen, but I was able to repair the damage to her left lung. I don't have to tell you how lucky she is."

"Will she be alright?" Aria still looked concerned.

"Only time will tell," Chakwas answered. "The next ten hours should tell me whether she'll need further surgery, or if she'll make a complete recovery. If she remains stable and regains consciousness, then I expect she'll make a full recovery in about two weeks. But, I don't expect her to be ready for any type of combat for at least four."

Shepard was taken off-guard. "How did-?"

Chakwas gave Shepard a somewhat amused look. "Give me some credit, Commander. I know that you wouldn't bring an injured mercenary on board this ship without having an ulterior motive. I also recognized her the moment she was set on my operating table."

Aria couldn't help but chuckle at Shepard's surprised expression. It wasn't everyday that she saw the Spectre at this level. But another question was still nagging at her.

"Can I see her?" Aria asked Chakwas.

Chakwas looked at Aria and nodded. "Yes. But I have to warn you, she's in very rough shape, to say the least."

"I understand," Aria's stomach knotted up.

Chakwas headed for the door to the medical bay, gesturing for all three of them to follow her. And they did. They'd all seen injured and wounded people before. But all of that was insignificant when they got the first glances of Lauren.

At first, all Aria could see was the numerous amounts of tubes and wires that were connected to Lauren's arms and upper chest. Lauren's entire left arm was wrapped in a medical brace and was strapped down to the bed she was lying on. But that wasn't what struck her the most. It was Lauren's face.

Normally Lauren was a healthy flesh-tone color, her cheeks usually somewhat pinker, a color combination that Aria had called 'adorable' once. But her face wasn't that healthy color. No, it was a cold, pale, and lifeless color. It honestly reminded Aria of the color a corpse would have.

Aria walked around Chakwas and a member of her medical staff, going directly to Lauren's right side. Shepard followed suit, choosing Lauren's left side. Deacon chose to remain next to Chakwas, attempting to make sense of what he was seeing. Aria reached out and brushed and hand on Lauren's cheek, feeling exactly how cold her skin actually was.

"Like I said earlier, the next ten hours are very telling to how her recovery will go. There are a lot of variables to factor in, but the most telling will be her mental state when she wakes up."

Shepard looked at Lauren and then at Chakwas. "Will it make a difference if she's moved to a hospital?"

"You can't actually be considering that, Shepard." Deacon looked at her with a shocked expression. "She'd kill someone before she'd stay in a hospital."

"I highly doubt she'll be doing anything like that anytime soon," Chakwas said to him. "But to answer your question; it is my professional opinion and recommendation that she remain here for the duration of her recovery. That and I can't guarantee that she'll remain stable during the move. It's best if she stays exactly where she is."

Shepard looked at Aria. "What do you think?"

Aria gently squeezed Lauren's available hand. "I don't want to do anything that could put her at risk. Even if it means leaving her here on board on the Normandy until she's recovered."

"I can guarantee her safety, Aria." Shepard said quietly. "She has the same risk as the rest of my crew does – I have missions I have to do."

Aria knew what Shepard was saying. She couldn't stay docked at the Citadel until Lauren was recovered – she had a war to fight. That being said, Shepard and her crew were in danger on every mission that Shepard undertook. Lauren would be in danger the entire time she was board. But the dangers of keeping her on the Citadel were far worse in Aria's mind. Even if Aria could keep her safely tucked away in a hospital, a number of people could easily find her. Aria's rivals, Cerberus, and C-Sec were all looking for Lauren for different reasons. No. It was much safer if she remained on board the Normandy.

"She's safer her than she is on the Citadel," Aria looked up at Shepard. "She stays on board the Normandy."

Shepard nodded and looked at Chakwas. "I hope you don't mind if we have a new guest on board the Normandy."

"She'll be very well taken care of. And you're welcome to stay until she wakes up, if you'd like," Chakwas looked at Shepard. "That is, unless you have plans, Commander."

Shepard shook her head. "No – the Normandy needs a few repairs. I'm going to go make sure that those repairs take the three days that Garrus said it would take."

"We should tell the crew that Lauren's staying on board anyways," Deacon looked at Shepard. "They should all be in the CIC, hiding from all of us."

Shepard nodded in agreement. "Good idea – we can make an announcement over the comm in the cockpit. I hope Joker's not doing anything important."

Chakwas watched as Shepard and Deacon filed out of the medical bay, leaving her alone with Aria. Chakwas walked over to the empty spot that Shepard had vacated and rested her palms on the side of the bed.

"She's in good hands," Chakwas assured Aria.

Aria looked up at Chakwas. "I know."

* * *

Shepard walked out of the elevator with Deacon right behind her. Garrus looked up from his spot by the galaxy map and nudged Vega. The two of them watched as their commanding officers walked up towards the cockpit, bickering as they went.

"-I know it's a good idea, but how is she going to react to all this when she wakes up?" Deacon asked Shepard.

"Aria is on board and obviously the two of them are closer than we originally thought. Aria should be able to keep Lauren calm when she wakes up." Shepard explained.

"If she wakes up," Deacon poked Shepard's back as they walked.

"Don't say that," Shepard made a face at him. "Besides, we have ten hours and Aria T'Loak on board. If Lauren doesn't wake up on her own, then we'll ask Aria to wake her."

Deacon stopped walking and stared at Shepard. "Did you just come up with that?"

"Yep."

Deacon shook his head. "And people say I'm the crazy one."

Shepard ignored him and walked into the cockpit, smacking her hand on the back of Joker's chair. The pilot jumped.

"Damn Shepard - did you have to do that?" Joker asked as he pulled his earpiece out of his head. "What's up?"

"I need to make a ship-wide announcement." Shepard flicked the corner of Joker's hat. "Is everyone back on board?"

"Yeah everyone's on board. And awake. Here," Joker clicked on a few screens in front of him.

Shepard heard the tell-tale sound of the comm turning on.

"Introducing our fearless-"

"Joker."

"-And somewhat intimidating leader, Commander Shepard."

"What is wrong with you?"

Shepard muttered as she snatched Joker's hat off his head. She cleared her throat and tucked a loose strand of dark hair out of her face. "No doubt most of you either saw or know about the patient that Commander Deacon brought on board."

"Who doesn't know by now?" Joker muttered.

Shepard whacked him lightly with his hat. "That patient is recovering in the medical bay, and will be staying on board the Normandy until she's completely recovered. Right now Dr. Chakwas has the medical bay closed off until her patient stabilizes and regains consciousness."

"This means that the medical bay is a no-go zone unless it's an emergency or you're a member of the medical staff. This goes for everyone board the ship, including the ground team." Shepard paused and looked at Joker. "You are also not allowed to bother the asari that's in the medical bay either – unless you want to deal with Commander Deacon or myself. That being said, I really hope Lieutenant Vega is listening to this."

She could hear a large amount of Spanish from somewhere down by the galaxy map, followed by some laughter from some of the crew.

"But besides that, I want two things. One, I want reports on the Normandy's current status to be delivered to Commander Deacon so we can coordinate the repairs to the ship. And two, I want the ground crew to report to the war room. That's all." Shepard leaned back from the comm.

Joker turned it off and looked up at the dark-haired woman. "Can I have my hat back now?"

Shepard gave him a skeptical look but handed the hat back to him. "Thank you."

"No problem," Joker put his hat back on his head. "EDI – how goes the electrical-"

Shepard turned and left, not wanting to hear a bunch of technical mumble that she didn't understand. That's why she always had Deacon read the technical reports. He translated it into something that she could understand. She made a bee-line for the war room, glad that she changed out of her armor and had stored her weapons down in the armory. She hated that she had to be scanned every time she walked in the room.

Sometimes she admired the simpler days.

Shepard walked inside the war room and straight to the middle of the room by the asset map. She was the first person here, but she knew that'd change in a few minutes. She crossed her arms across her chest and shifted her weight to her right hip. It was her "professional" stance. It was the same stance that she'd used during her time aboard the SSV Normandy, and her time fighting the Collectors. That much of her hadn't changed after her "death". But some things had changed – like how she addressed both her crew and ground team.

When she'd been first given command over the SSV Normandy, she'd been more proper and addressed the crew and her team like she had been taught in officer's school. But after a while she noticed that her crew wasn't just members of the Alliance – they were like family to her. She made it a point after that to speak casually to them, no matter the circumstance. It seemed to put them at ease too, making it easier to communicate on a daily basis about what she needed from them.

"So," Garrus said as he walked in. "What's this about?"

Shepard looked at her turian friend and smirked. "It's an intervention Vakarian – you need to stop running into rockets." She pointed to the right side of her face.

Garrus chuckled. "You're a horrible liar, Aeron."

Shepard shrugged. "I don't like to lie."

"You mean you don't know how to lie," Deacon walked inside the war room with Vega right behind him.

"I do too – I told you I liked your haircut, didn't I?" Shepard said playfully.

Deacon snorted and brought a hand up to rub at his short cropped hair. "Like I'd listen to your opinion anyways after the Phoenix armor-"

Garrus made the turian equivalent of a groan. "Don't talk about that. It never happened."

"Never happened," Shepard agreed.

Liara walked inside, a datapad in her hand, which signaled Shepard. The Commander cleared her throat.

"Alright, all of you know the patient down in the medical bay is a colleague of mine," Shepard said, her professional attitude settling into place.

"You called us all here just to talk to us about this?" Garrus twitched his mandibles.

"No," Shepard said slowly. "I had all of you come up here so I could talk to you about what the plan is involving my colleague. That and so we can talk about what we're going to do next."

"What do you mean?" Liara asked, confused about the Commander's statement.

"Lauren Hackett is to remain on board the Normandy until she's completely recovered," Shepard explained. "This means that we're taking her with us on missions."

"You're buddy-spiking the Normandy?" Vega asked in disbelief. "Why? You could send her to a hospital here on the Citadel."

"Three reasons. One, Chakwas says we can't move her without putting her at medical risk," Shepard explained. "Two, Aria T'Loak has asked us to keep her here because she can't guarantee her safety on the Citadel. And three, maybe after she's recovered completely, she might consider joining our war effort."

Vega went quiet, his question answered.

"Moving on," Shepard looked at Garrus. "You said earlier that the Normandy's repairs would take three days, is that true?"

"Actually, with EDI's help we can get the repairs done in about twelve hours." Garrus said. "Why?"

"See to it that those repairs are made, will you? Liara," Shepard looked at the asari. "I need you to see to the crew – make sure they're all doing what they're supposed to be doing. Deacon and I need to contact Admiral Hackett and inform him of what's going on and talk about our next move."

Liara nodded. "I'll make sure they're all working."

"Vega," Shepard looked at the Lieutenant. "I want you to go through the Normandy's supplies – ammunition, food stores, everything. If we're low on anything, get it stocked up now."

The bigger marine nodded. "I'll recruit whoever isn't working to help me inventory everything."

"Good. Start with Chakwas – see if she needs anything specific for Lauren's recovery," Shepard looked at everyone in the room. "That's it. You're all dismissed."

Everyone nodded and left, leaving Shepard and Deacon alone with the various technicians that wandered around the war room. Shepard looked at Deacon, who was standing next to her. There was a rather tense minute of silence before Shepard spoke.

"I will give you a million credits if you tell him."

Deacon snorted. "Yeah right - you're in charge. You tell him."

"You brought her on board."

"That still doesn't change the fact that _you're in charge._"

"Please," Shepard whined. "Just this once."

"You want me to tell Admiral Hackett, the scariest man in the entire universe, that his daughter is injured and lying in the medical bay on _your_ ship?" Deacon looked at Shepard and snorted. "Hell no."

"You're the only one that's good with breaking bad news. I'm horrible at it," Shepard nudged him. "Come on - just this once? _Please?_" Shepard whined again. "_Please?"_

"Alright fine – just don't whine. You know I hate that."

* * *

_I have another update for you guys later._


	8. Chapter 8

Admiral Steven Hackett was busy going over the latest reports he'd received from some of his officers when the secure terminal next to him lit up. Normally he would ignore it, but nothing was normal for him anymore. He had the entirety of Fifth Fleet and the safety of numerous other Alliance resources depending on him on a daily basis now. The weight on his shoulders was almost suffocating.

He sighed and set the datapad down. An ensign that was standing next to him gave him a quizzical look before he shuffled a few feet away. Hackett decided to ignore it and tapped the screen of his terminal.

"Yes?" He asked.

"Sir," A gruff communications officer was on the other line. "You have an incoming call coming in from the Normandy on an encrypted channel."

"I'll take it in the conference room," Hackett answered gruffly. He'd take talking to Shepard or Deacon over reading reports any day. And usually the Commanders didn't call him unless they had an emergency or something important going on.

He stood up and walked out of his command center and to the small conference room that he used to make calls to other leaders of the war effort. It took him only a second to tap the panel to connect the call. Josiah Deacon's face appeared in front of him, in hologram form. For a brief second, Steven Hackett could swear that the Commander looked almost constipated or frustrated.

"Admiral Hackett," Deacon said gruffly.

"Can I help you, Commander Deacon?" Admiral Hackett asked.

"It's more like how I can help you," Deacon blinked.

Hackett raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"Sir, we have Lauren Hackett on board the Normandy." Deacon explained.

Hackett blinked. He would be lying if he said the news didn't surprise him. He hadn't spoken to Lauren since her last visit to Earth almost a year and half ago, back before the war had actually started. He had heard that Omega had been taken and that there had been a lot of casualties and with no news, he had assumed that the worst had happened to his only child.

He was wrong. "She's alive?" He asked.

Deacon looked confused. "You thought she was dead, sir?"

"I had heard Omega had been taken – but to the point, she's on board the Normandy?"

"Yes, sir, she is." Deacon suddenly brought a hand up to rub at his neck.

Hackett knew that look. "What's happened?"

Deacon sighed heavily. "Lauren is down in the medical bay – she's fresh out of surgery."

"What?" Hackett leaned forward. "Is she alright?"

"She's in stable condition."

Hackett felt relief wash over him like a wave. "What happened?"

"She was kidnapped by Cerberus agents, sir." Deacon shifted.

Hackett sighed and brought a hand up to rub at his face. "If her mother were here…how bad were her injuries?"

"Dr. Chakwas operated on her for six hours, Admiral."

Hackett straightened himself up. "Will she be alright?"

"We don't know. Chakwas said the next ten hours are important to knowing if she needs more surgery or not. We're going to wait it out in the medical bay with Aria T'Loak and Chakwas to be sure she's okay."

"Commander, the moment you find out anything-"

"I know, sir." Deacon stared directly at him. "You'll be the first to know."

"Thank you, Commander." Hackett pushed the button on his QEC and leaned on the table in the conference room. "Damn it. I told her to be careful." He sighed and rubbed at the bridge of his nose.

A knock at the door to the conference room made him look up. It was the ensign from before – the one he didn't really know the name of yet.

"What is it?" Hackett asked.

"Some more paperwork has come in, sir." The ensign was holding a datapad. "Is something wrong, sir?"

"No," Admiral Hackett straightened up and held his hand out. "Let me see that."

* * *

The medical bay was quiet again, Chakwas noticed. She stopped typing at her terminal and turned around. Shepard was sitting on an empty cot staring at her hands, which were cradled in her lap. Deacon had draped himself on another empty cot, his legs dangling haphazardly over the edge. They had been present in the medical bay for over seven hours now, leaving only to deal with various members of the crew or to go fetch a cup of coffee.

Aria was the only one who remained seated in a spare chair next to Lauren's bedside. The asari had given Derimus and Bray control of what remained of her organization temporarily, the whole while telling herself that she'd leave after Lauren woke up. But she wasn't sure of that plan anymore. According to Chakwas, Lauren's vitals had stabilized and she was out of immediate danger, but she still hadn't woken up. And that was what they were all waiting for. Lauren had to wake up, even if it was for only a second.

Aria squeezed Lauren's right hand again, going back to repeating prayers in her head. She wasn't normally religious, but it was all she could _do_. Here she was, praying for the safe recovery of her bondmate. If anyone other than Shepard and her crew saw her like this…she'd probably lose more than just Omega.

Aria leaned forward and gently brushed her hand against Lauren's cheek. _Please wake up_, Aria said quietly in her head._ Please just open your blue eyes for just a second. That's all I'm asking._

It was a few more minutes before Chakwas stood up from her terminal and crossed the few feet to Lauren's bed. She had to check on Lauren every twenty minutes to watch her vitals. Her heart rate and blood pressure were still the same. But her temperature was higher.

Chakwas looked at the blanket that she had laid on top of Lauren. She was warm enough that it didn't have to be on anymore. Chakwas gently reached for the switch for the blanket and frowned. Someone had turned it off.

"Aria," Chakwas said slowly. "Can I see Lauren's right hand?"

Aria nodded and gently moved aside to let Chakwas squeeze and examine Lauren's hand. Shepard and Deacon looked up, watching the doctor with tired eyes.

"What's going on, Karin?" Shepard asked quietly.

"She's warm," Chakwas muttered as she gently let go of Lauren's hand and pressed her hand against Lauren's cheek. "But the warming blanket is off." She moved automatically, pulling the heavy blanket off Lauren's chest and folding it on her legs.

Aria looked at Lauren's uncovered body with a knot in her stomach. Lauren was dressed in a white medical gown and was attached to a number of tubes. She looked far too small and fragile. The sight of her was unnerving. A sudden hand at Aria's shoulder was warm and strangely comforting. Shepard pulled Aria back a foot, allowing Chakwas more space to work.

"What's going on?" Aria asked quietly, not wanting to disturb Chakwas as she examined Lauren.

"Chakwas is checking to make sure that Lauren's increase is temperature is from her own body and not something from the environment," Shepard explained quietly.

"Why does that matter?" Aria looked at Shepard, noticing that the human's bright green eyes were focused on Chakwas.

"If Lauren's body is warming up, it's a good sign that she's fighting." Shepard's voice was barely above a whisper.

Aria tore her blue eyes away from Shepard and turned her attention on what Chakwas was saying.

"-No sign of any sort of infection in her blood," Chakwas muttered. She made a face and sudden put a hand on Lauren's chest and gently shook her. "Lauren?" she said loudly. "Lauren can you hear me?"

Aria watched as Lauren's brain activity changed. Shepard leaned forward.

"Her beta waves-"

"I can see them, Commander." Chakwas gently shook her again. "Lauren can you open your eyes? Lauren?"

"Lauren?" Aria rested her hand on top of Lauren's. "Open your eyes."

"Come on Lauren, wake up." Shepard said loudly, squeezing Aria's shoulder.

Deacon walked to the other side of Lauren's bed by Chakwas. "Lauren?" he called in a sing-song voice.

Aria wasn't sure if she was imagining it or not, but Lauren's eyebrow twitched. When it happened again, everyone around her bedside leaned forward. Lauren shifted in the hospital bed, moving her hand. Her eyes twitched and suddenly opened a millimeter.

Lauren had no idea what was going on. She felt like she had a massive hangover. Her head was heavy and her ears seemed to be picking up on every little sound around her. And it didn't help that someone was screaming her name in her face. She opened her eyes just a millimeter and was instantly blinded by harsh white lights. She blinked again, this time not seeing any blinding lights, but an unfocused shape above her.

"Lauren?" The shape asked.

Lauren groaned in response. Everything was so unfocused. She blinked again and suddenly everything around her began to come into focus. The shape was really a woman.

"Don't try to speak," the woman said slowly. "And don't try to get up. You're on board the Normandy."

_The Normandy? Shepard's fucking ship?_ Lauren made a face.

"You're lying in the medical bay," the woman continued.

_Was I hurt?_ Lauren noticed something in her peripheral vision and attempted to move her head in that direction, but couldn't. The woman must have noticed because she looked up.

"She's trying to see you, here lean in more."

Lauren blinked again, noticing another face staring down at her. But this face was familiar to her. She wanted to say something, but she found that she really couldn't. Something was covering her mouth, preventing her from speaking. And then suddenly she could feel everything. And she didn't like it. It felt like every inch of her was on fire or being pricked by sharp needles. She jammed her eyes shut, attempting to block it out, but the pain was intense and getting worse.

"I think she's in pain," Aria's voice said quietly.

"Here," the first woman's voice sounded sympathetic. "This should help."

Lauren felt a sudden sting on her right arm, followed by a sudden wave of relief. The pain was quickly ebbing away. She opened her eyes again and blinked. Aria's face suddenly came into view, as well as her hand. Her bondmate's blue fingers wiped at her eyes.

"Its okay - Dr. Chakwas just gave you a pain killer. You're okay," Aria still sounded concerned. "Right?"


	9. Chapter 9

Chakwas looked down at her patient, carefully thinking about what she should do next. Regular procedure was a battery of immediate tests involving blood draws and more scans with no one present, but she knew that the Commanders would insist on staying in the medical bay. But they would be more of a hindrance. But Aria was one person and wouldn't take up a lot of space. Plus, Chakwas could get Lauren's medical history from the asari if she remained in the room.

"I need to run a battery of tests and draw some blood," Chakwas looked at Shepard and Deacon. "I'm afraid the two of you are going to have to wait outside."

Shepard opened her mouth to protest.

"Commander," Chakwas raised an eyebrow. "Are we going to have a problem?"

Deacon hastily nudged Shepard with his foot. Shepard closed her mouth and looked at Deacon, who shook his head. Shepard made another face and held her palms up. Deacon shook his head again and pointed at the door. Shepard made a defeated face and looked at Lauren and Aria before walking out of the medical bay. Deacon followed her, the door shutting behind him. Obviously Deacon had won their silent arguement.

Chakwas looked at Lauren and gently patted her left knee before looking at Aria. "I have a few forms that need to be filled out."

"Forms?"

"It's so I can get a sense of her recent medical history - the last file the Alliance has is from nine years ago." Chakwas walked to her desk and picked up a paper file. "I prefer paper over electronic means, I hope you don't mind."

Aria shook her head and took the file gingerly. If she could do anything to make Chakwas's job easier when it came to making Lauren better, she'd do it. She'd do anything right now. Chakwas turned on her omni-tool and began to look over Lauren, whose eyes were starting to close.

"I need you to stay awake for just a little longer," Chakwas gently put her hand on Lauren's shoulder. "Then you can go back to getting some rest."

* * *

Shepard walked outside the medical bay and around a cluster of her crew, heading for the coffee pot. She grumbled the whole way, shooting a look at Deacon behind her.

"Don't give me that look." Deacon walked to one of the cabinets and pulled it open. He began to rummage inside. "You heard her, she has to run tests."

"She looks fine to me," Shepard mumbled.

"You're not a doctor," Deacon pointed out.

Shepard grunted as she poured a cup of coffee for herself. Deacon finally found what he was looking for – a box of ration bars. Shepard watched him pull out a bar and open it. Before he took a bite he sniffed the bar experimentally.

"How do you eat those things?" A nearby ensign asked watching him from his seat at the mess hall table.

Deacon stared at the ensign, not moving his eyes. After a few seconds the ensign shifted uncomfortably in his seat and Deacon brought the ration bar up to his mouth again. He didn't look away as he took another bite of the ration bar and chewed it. Shepard watched the ensign get up and leave hastily for the elevator to the CIC.

Shepard sighed. "Stop scaring the crew."

"Mhat?" Deacon asked his mouth full of ration bar. "Ywe du phat al the tyme."

"I can't understand you when you have your mouth full of food."

He hastily swallowed. "I said you do that all the time."

"I do not."

"Have you seen yourself in the morning before you've had a cup of coffee? You remind me of a thresher maw."

Shepard took a deep breath and closed her eyes, resisting the urge to hit him. She felt a hand on her arm and looked up, staring directly at a pair of concerned brown eyes.

"She's going to be fine." He said quietly, so no one else would over hear him. "Stop stressing yourself out over it. Lauren's been through worse, remember?"

"Yes, but this time she's on the Normandy, not a hospital."

Deacon raised an eyebrow at her. "Do you really think it's a good idea to put her in a hospital?"

Shepard looked at her friend before looking at her coffee. "No," He was right. "But that still doesn't mean I can't worry about her."

"The two of you haven't been close friends in nine years and suddenly you're worried about her," He shook his head.

"Just because we haven't spoken doesn't mean I haven't worried about her." Shepard said quietly.

Deacon knew she wasn't kidding when she said that. The Spectre worried about everything and everyone in her life at all times. He was surprised that her hair was still the same dark color; he figured it would have turned white or gray during the time they spent preparing for the Collectors. He made a mental note to check her shower for hair dye. He nudged her with his elbow and Shepard looked up, briefly giving him a small but weary smile. Having her best friend around was comforting, to say the least.

"Thank you for being my friend." She said.

Deacon snorted. "Like I had a choice – where else am I going to find someone as crazy as me?"

"I dunno, Garrus is pretty crazy," Shepard said in a much louder voice, knowing that the turian was seated not too far away. "He took a rocket to the face, remember?"

"It was a flesh wound." The turian replied loudly.

Deacon snorted and looked at Garrus. "You almost lost all of your face."

The turian clicked his mandibles. "At least I never had to escape from an erupting volcano."

Both Deacon and Shepard gave the turian matching annoyed looks. Some of the crew at the table laughed lightly, understanding the joke. Garrus smiled widely, showing off his needle-like teeth before he went back to poking at his food. Deacon walked over and plunked down in the chair across from the turian.

"How are the repairs coming?" He asked.

"Fine," Garrus answered loftily. "EDI is doing some adjustments with the ship's systems before I go and calibrate them. I figured I should get something to eat first before I finish up the repairs in the next five hours." He glanced up at Deacon. "How's Hackett doing?"

"Which one?"

Garrus made a confused sound that reminded Deacon of a chirp.

"Lauren is Admiral Hackett's daughter," He explained.

"Oh...That actually explains a lot." Garrus poked at his food again. "How is she doing then?"

"Chakwas kicked us out and is running some tests now that she's awake, so hopefully we'll know something good soon."

"She woke up? Good," Garrus picked up a piece of what looked like meat on his fork and made a face. "How's T'Loak holding up?"

"Worried."

Garrus nodded his head and set the meat back down on his tray. "I would be worried too, if my second-in-command was in an infirmary."

"Medical bay," Deacon corrected him. "She's second-in-command of Aria's organization?"

"Among other things," Garrus said casually. "She's also the enforcer and a bartender."

"Enforcer?" Deacon still didn't understand mercenary terms. He probably never would, but Garrus was a good person to ask when someone used a term he didn't know.

"Enforcers make sure that others know the rules and what the consequences are for breaking them. I've seen your friend do some pretty harsh things while I was on Omega – I even considered for a second to shoot her once. But I figured it was best if I didn't mess with T'Loak while I was on the station." Garrus looked wistful. "I'm glad I didn't, she was actually more of a help later on."

"She helped you?" Shepard asked as she walked over.

Garrus nodded. "Saved my ass when I got myself cornered – it was a rookie mistake. She came out of nowhere and gunned down everyone in my way; we both managed to escape and made it back to Afterlife in one piece. She told me later that I was lucky she happened to pass by, or I'd be dead. Gave me the best piece of advice I ever got while I was there."

"And what was that?"

Garrus set his fork down. "Omega will tear you up, kill you, and then shit you out whole if you don't always have a plan. And if you don't have one, _make one_."

"Good advice," Vega said from behind Shepard, startling the Commander.

"What have I told you about doing that," Shepard said, bringing a hand up to clutch at her heart.

"You seriously couldn't hear him walk up behind you? You're getting rusty, Shepard."

"Not everyone can have your _bird-_like hearing Garrus."

"Spirits – I only chirped once!" Garrus stood up and headed for the main battery. "Let it go!"

"Never! Or as your people say-" Shepard let out a very loud bird-like chirp.

Deacon chuckled as Garrus groaned and hid himself inside the main battery. "Remind me to have Joker chirp into armory's comm again the next time Garrus is down there. The last time was hilarious."

Shepard laughed, remembering the incident from their first deployment with Garrus. "Garrus wouldn't talk to Joker for a week after that."

"Remember what Ashley did every time she passed him in the CIC?" Deacon leaned forward in his seat.

Shepard nodded. "She'd call him big bird – drove him absolutely insane."

Deacon and Shepard both laughed.

Vega even chuckled. "Damn, you guys were vicious back in the day."

"We weren't spared either, James. Garrus took it upon himself to get revenge every chance he got." Deacon looked at Shepard. "Remember what he did to the boots?"

Shepard groaned. "I will never let the crew have leave on a sandy planet ever again."

"He put sand in your boots?" Vega asked with a lopsided grin. "That doesn't sound so bad."

"He filled the boots up to the top with sand," Shepard explained. "And they weren't our off-duty boots, those were our dirt side boots."

"Remind me never to play pranks on the big guy," Vega commented, going back to reading his datapad.

"How's the Normandy look?" Shepard asked, peeking over the edge of Vega's datapad.

"Not too bad," James replied as he pulled his datapad away from Shepard's eyes. "We aren't missing much. The supplies are en route to the Normandy as we speak, so we should be ready to go as soon as the repairs are done."

Shepard looked at the medical bay. "Yeah well, we have to wait until we know Lauren's going to be alright. That reminds me, someone has to escort Aria off the Normandy when it comes time for her to leave. Think you can do that?"

Vega looked at Shepard like she was joking. "You realize that she's been running Omega for a few hundred years? She doesn't need help navigating the Normandy."

"I understand, but I want to make sure she gets off the Normandy and leaves without any problems." Shepard took a sip of her coffee.

"Commander," a member of the medical staff suddenly appeared from around the corner. "Dr. Chakwas would like to speak to you and Commander Deacon." She sounded exhausted.

Shepard looked at Deacon. The two of them both stood up and followed her back into the medical bay. Chakwas looked up as they entered, but didn't stop her conversation with Aria.

"Then I have your permission to repair the damage done to her arm?" Chakwas asked.

"Do whatever you need to," Aria said, straightening her jacket.

Shepard noticed immediately that Lauren was asleep again, this time without the oxygen mask on her face. "You called for us?"

"Yes, Commander, I did. Lauren's doing beautifully, considering her history. Aria's managed to fill in the blanks and I'm changing my estimate on her recovery time." Chakwas held out a paper to Shepard.

Shepard took it, remembering that the doctor liked to use paper. She read it quickly and then lowered the paper a few inches to look skeptically at Chakwas. "Earlier you said it would be four weeks until she was combat-ready. This says two to three."

"That was based on her recovery times from Akuze. According to Aria," The doctor motioned towards the mercenary boss. "Her recovery time and metabolism are much quicker since then. But that is an _estimate_, Commander. I have to factor in some repairs I must do to the cybernetics in her left arm, which will require physical therapy."

"Repairs?" Deacon asked.

"Aria noticed the damage at first, upon further examination it appears that part of the joint requires some minor repair. But I expect that the physical therapy for that will be short," Chakwas looked at Lauren. "But again, we'll see if she meets those expectations."

Aria suddenly cleared her throat. "Commander…"

Shepard looked at Aria. "Yes?"

"I'm afraid I have to leave…an urgent issue has come up that requires my attention." Aria said, her professional demeanor in place.

Shepard caught on immediately. "I understand."

Aria looked Shepard dead in the eye. "Thank you for allowing me to stay, Shepard. Not many people would go that far out of their way."

"It's no problem. We were docked for repairs anyways, and she is one of your employees." Shepard said casually. "Lieutenant Vega will escort you off the Normandy."

Deacon leaned out of the door and called Vega over. The bigger marine walked in, mumbling something in Spanish.

Aria looked at Lauren briefly and then walked out of the medical bay, Vega trailing behind her. Shepard and Deacon exchanged brief glances before they both looked at Dr. Chakwas.

"She received a very urgent call," Chakwas said as she sidled back over to her desk and sat down. "Now I do believe that the two of you have things to do – I think she'd appreciate some actual rest." Chakwas nodded her head at Lauren.

"We'll get out of your hair, Doc. Besides, we should probably tell Admiral Hackett how she's doing. And I do believe it's your turn, _Commander_."

Shepard cringed. "I'll give you two million credits-"

"Bribing and whining isn't going to get me to do it Shepard. I have repairs to go oversee."

"Ah, fuck."

Chakwas waited for them to be gone before she looked at her patient again. "Do you want me to shut off the lights?"

Lauren opened one blue eye at the doctor and nodded.

Chakwas smiled at the blonde woman, who smiled just a little bit back before closing her eyes. Chakwas didn't want the Commanders to bug the life out of Lauren. She'd regained the ability to speak but had only managed to say a few words to Aria before she started coughing. Her bondmate had been more than understanding, telling her quietly that she was going to be alright and holding onto her hand. The tests had left Lauren tired and somewhat stressed. The best thing for her now was rest. Chakwas tapped on her terminal, the medical bay's lights dimming until it was somewhat dark.

"Don't hesitate to bother me if you need something."

"Mm-hmm," Lauren hummed from her bed.

Chakwas turned back to her terminal and began to type again, determined to finish her paperwork so she could go to sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

The next six hours on the Normandy consisted of Shepard and many members of the crew flitting about, repairing and checking on the many systems on board the Normandy. Shepard had sent a message to Admiral Hackett rather than calling him, determined to keep her good mood rather than ruining it. But her mood quickly soured anyways as she got started on the work she'd neglected in favor of sitting by Lauren's bedside. She ended up disappearing from the crew's view, heading up to her cabin to do her work in silence. Deacon had vanished somewhere in the depths of engineering to work on some more repairs and modifications he could make to the Normandy.

This left the crew to their own devices. With the repairs almost completed, most of the crew was not needed and filtered back into the mess hall. Engineer Adams was seated at the far end of the mess hall table, fussing with his food. Joker sat next to him, poking at his own tray of food.

"Why does this stuff always look so disgusting?" Joker asked.

"It's food, Joker. Just eat it." Adams looked at the darkened windows of the medical bay. "Is Karin sleeping?"

"I would be." Samantha Traynor said from her seat at the other end of the table.

Steve Cortez pushed his own tray away and craned his head to get a better look at the medical bay. "What was with Shepard's announcement earlier? Are we really not allowed in there?"

Joker looked at Cortex like he was kidding. "Really Cortez?"

"I'm just asking."

"When Shepard means no one in the medical bay," Gabby said from her seat next to Samantha. "She means it. Besides, I don't think anyone should go near Chakwas's patient anyways."

"Why's that?" Diana Allers asked as she sat down with a cup of coffee.

Joker gave Gabby a hard stare. "Gabby…"

"What's the harm Joker? Obviously she's going to be joining the crew and helping Shepard once she's better. Why else would she be here and not in a hospital?" Gabby took a sip of her water. "Besides, everyone's going to know who she is in a few hours anyways."

Joker had to admit it, Gabby had a point. The crew was going to talk about this, it was fresh and exciting. But then again everything was when they were all crammed in the Normandy. "Alright, but don't come whining to me when Shepard lectures you about gossiping."

"You gossip all the time," Samantha pointed accusingly at Joker with her fork.

"What me? _No_." Joker picked up his own coffee and took a sip.

Diana looked around the table. "Is someone going to tell me why we shouldn't be going near Chakwas's patient?"

Gabby looked at the war correspondent. "The patient's name is Lauren Hackett."

"The Sole Survivor?"

"The very one," Gabby looked at the medical bay. "Last time I heard anything about her was back during the time we spent fighting the Collectors. She was a mercenary on Omega, right Joker?"

Joker nodded, hastily swallowing some food. "She works for Aria T'Loak, the asari who was here earlier. Apparently Shepard, Deacon, _and_ Vega had to go rescue her or something. She ended up getting hurt and Deacon brought her back here."

"Wow," Cortex whistled. "A mercenary?"

"I don't know about you but we had a mercenary on board and it wasn't pretty," Gabby said with a grimace.

"Okay one, Zaeed was never pretty to start with. And two, you're also forgetting the fact that about half the crew on board the Normandy were mercenaries or had been mercenaries." Joker pointed out. "Not all of them are bad. And I really don't think that we'll be having any problems with a wounded mercenary whose stuck in the medical bay."

Gabby leaned back in her seat. "I don't know, Joker. I have a bad feeling."

"You always have a bad feeling, lass." Kenneth finally spoke up. "I agree with Joker, as long as that one stays in there, we shouldn't have a problem."

Samantha shook her head. "I agree with Gabby – I've heard of the stories about her. She's dangerous."

"Rumors, you mean. But Joker and Kenneth have a point though," Cortez picked up his own cup. "If she's in the medical bay then she obviously can't fight. And you're all missing the important fact that she's on the _Normandy_. She has to be on _our_ side, right?"

Joker looked at Gabby. "See? Nothing to worry about."

Gabby sighed and looked at her tray. "If you say so."

Dr. Chakwas chose this moment to walk into the mess hall, yawning as she went. Her uniform was a little disheveled, like she'd just woken up.

"Sleep well?" Adams asked.

Chakwas nodded. "It was a very productive nap."

"How's your patient doing?" Joker asked casually.

Chakwas walked to the counter and shuffled around, making herself a cup of tea. "She's asleep. And I expect that she'll remain asleep for at least a few more hours."

"Did the surgery go well?" Adams asked. "I noticed your team looked a little tired when they left."

"Six hours of standing on your feet will do that to you." Chakwas replied dryly. "The surgery went fine though, thanks for asking."

"How's recovery look?" Joker asked.

Chakwas looked briefly at Joker before taking a sip of her tea. "You're not fishing for information to gossip about are you?"

Joker looked insulted. "Why is everyone calling me a gossip all of a sudden?"

"Maybe because you are one," Gabby suggested.

Joker mock pouted. "You're so mean to me Gabby."

Chakwas sighed. "What would Shepard say if she saw you right now?"

"Doesn't matter, she's not here." Joker looked at Chakwas. "So how does recovery look?"

Chakwas knew very well that Joker was going to bug her until she gave him an answer or he'd never leave her alone. "It looks promising."

Joker scoffed. "That's all you can tell me? Promising?"

"Doctor-patient privilege," Chakwas reminded him. "Or shall I tell everyone about the time you broke your tailbone?"

"No!" Joker leaned forward. "Alright, I'll let it go."

Chakwas smiled sweetly at the pilot, who just glared back at her. Everyone at the table chuckled, except Kenneth.

"Wait, is that why he couldn't sit straight for a week?" The Scotsman asked. "I always thought he just slipped and fell."

"Look at the time," Joker stood up hastily. "I think EDI might need a hand up in the cockpit."

Chakwas let out a small snort at the word cockpit. Joker shot her a dirty look and left the mess hall.

* * *

Shepard was attempting to work. She really was. There were just too many things that she had to get done and not enough time.

"There's not enough time in the world," Shepard muttered, looking at the reports on her desk. The picture frame that sat on the edge of her desk had been knocked over. She frowned and picked the picture up.

It was from a happier time obviously, back after the Battle of the Citadel. The entire crew of the Normandy – her crew – stood with their arms wrapped around each other. Each of them had a huge smile plastered on their faces, whether it was from the fact that they'd survived or from the alcohol they'd consumed before the photo was taken, Shepard couldn't tell.

Shepard smiled and stood up, deciding that the photo would look better by her bed than by her desk, hidden behind stacks of paper and datapads. There were other photos on her bedside, photos that she'd kept close to her after she turned herself in to the Alliance after the destruction of Bahak. The picture of the Normandy's crew and the others were all printed, set in steel frames that Shepard had purchased upon setting foot on the Citadel the first time.

Back before all this craziness had happened.

"Speaking of crazy," Shepard looked at the other photos by her bedside.

One was the photo taken after Shepard, Deacon and Hackett had graduated from their training days. Shepard was standing in the middle of her two friends, her hands on their shoulders. Lauren was giving the camera a rare smile while Deacon was staring calmly at it. He never smiled, not in any picture that anyone had ever taken of him.

Another photo, that she'd had taken after they returned from their victory over the Collectors, was of her crew then. It was a large panoramic shot of Grunt, Zaeed, Samara, Kasumi, Thane, Mordin, Legion, Tali, Garrus, Jacob, Miranda, Jack, Deacon and Shepard were all standing with happy looks on their faces. The rest of the Normandy's crew, Chakwas, Joker, etc. they were standing with their arms wrapped around each other.

The last photo, which Kasumi had given Shepard as a parting gift, was of Lauren. The thief had managed to not only find out who Lauren was and why she was special to Shepard, but had also managed to find a picture of both Lauren and Shepard back during their training days. The picture featured Shepard and Lauren sitting next to each other on a bench on Earth. They'd gotten drunk during shore leave and had stopped to sit down. Shepard assumed that Deacon had taken the picture and had hidden it from Shepard to use as blackmail down the road. But Shepard didn't really care if the picture got out; it was the least of her worries. The picture was of Lauren and Shepard sitting on that bench wearing disheveled off-duty uniforms, their hair down, asleep and leaning on each other's shoulders.

"We were so drunk," Shepard muttered with a smile on her face. She reached out and set down the picture of the old Normandy crew. Shepard looked at the alarm clock by her bed. It was early; most of the ship would be asleep by now, since the repairs had been completed. She'd been up doing work for almost ten hours now.

Shepard ran her fingers through her hair, scowling at it for a brief second. She hadn't cut her hair in over two years – the dark brown strands were just a little too long for her tastes. She ruffled her hair a bit before she pulled it back in a bun and headed for her cabin door. She needed coffee if she was going to continue working and she wanted to check in on Chakwas and Lauren. And then she wanted to go bug her pilot about where they were going now that the repairs were done. She had two weeks worth of side missions to go through and she wanted to get all of them done before she headed for Sur'Kesh for that diplomatic thing.

And hopefully, Lauren would be recovered completely by then.

* * *

Chakwas heard Shepard's telltale footsteps long before she stepped foot inside the medical bay.

"Why are the lights dimmed?" Shepard asked from the doorway.

"Because she's sleeping, Commander," Chakwas clicked on her terminal, bringing the lights up to a brighter, but still comfortable level. The doctor didn't look up from her terminal and instead kept working.

She could hear Shepard approach Lauren's bed and glanced over at the Commander, who was looking at Lauren questionably.

"What are you doing Commander?" Chakwas asked, swiveling in her chair so she could get a better look at Shepard.

"Thinking," Shepard said quietly. "She just looks so peaceful. It's hard to believe that she's wanted by C-Sec."

Chakwas looked at Shepard, somewhat alarmed. "Wanted for what?"

Shepard looked at Chakwas and smirked. "Calm down, Karin. I asked for the file from Bailey – she's wanted for weapons smuggling."

"For a second there I thought you were going to tell me she was wanted for mass murder or something along those lines." Chakwas turned back to her terminal.

"If it makes you feel any better, I wouldn't bring a serial killer on board the Normandy without your permission, Doc."

Chakwas rolled her eyes and went back to typing her reports up. She was on the last one – an updated medical history for Lauren for future reference. Aria had filled out the paperwork completely, which meant that Chakwas didn't have to do any guesswork.

"What are you typing up?" Shepard said as she walked over. "Reports?"

"I had Aria fill in some blanks when it came to Lauren's most recent medical history. She has a very excellent memory and very legible handwriting." Chakwas said as she squinted at the screen in front of her.

Shepard leaned over Chakwas's shoulder in an attempt to read what she was writing, but couldn't really make it out. Chakwas didn't try to stop her, knowing that it was pointless to try and because it was only a medical history report. It wasn't breaking any rules if Shepard read it anyways.

"May I remind you that if this were any other form, I would have to report you," Chakwas muttered.

"I know the rules," Shepard shuffled over to Chakwas's side and started reading the paper form, which was actually easier to read than the doctor's terminal screen. "Pretty handwriting, I wish mine was like that."

Chakwas went back to typing in silence for a few minutes. She had almost forgotten that Shepard was actually there, until the Commander made a noise that sounded like someone was strangling a varren.

"What the-"Chakwas jumped in her chair.

"Bondmate?" Shepard stabbed the paper with her finger. "Please tell me I'm reading this wrong."

Chakwas looked at the Commander and then looked at the word she was pointing at. She had already read the report and knew what Shepard was referring to. Aria had filled out the contact information on the bottom of the form using the word "bondmate" instead of spouse.

"No, Commander. You aren't reading it wrong." Chakwas went back to her terminal. "Lauren's legal name, on Thessia, is Lauren T'Loak."

"When did **that** happen?"

"When you weren't paying attention," A hoarse voice answered.

Chakwas looked at Lauren's bed and stood up, crossing the medical bay in a few strides. She reached for a cup of water that she had on a tray by Lauren's bedside. "Here, open your mouth and drink this."

Lauren obeyed while Chakwas put the end of a straw in her mouth and held the cup for her. She sipped slowly until she emptied the cup. Chakwas pulled the cup away and went back to the tray, refilling it with more water from a pitcher and adding a packet to it. The water turned blue and bubbled slightly before Chakwas stirred it with the straw.

"Why is it blue?" Shepard asked.

"I've added a broad-spectrum antibiotic and protein," Chakwas explained. "Open."

Lauren opened her mouth again and accepted the straw again. She made a face when she started drinking the water, but finished all of it. Chakwas set the cup down on the tray and looked at her patient.

"How are we feeling?" She asked.

"Sore," Lauren grumbled.

"It certainly sounds like you're feeling better." Chakwas pulled down the blanket on Lauren's chest to get a look at the stitches underneath. "And you're stitches are starting to heal up. Can you cough for me?" Chakwas asked.

Lauren obeyed and coughed, not wanting to argue with the doctor. "Ow."

"Good. You're going to hurt for the next few days when it comes to coughing, but it's important that you cough as much as you can. It'll help clear out your lungs and speed up the healing process."

"How long?" Lauren's voice was still a little rugged.

Chakwas grabbed the glass again and filled it with more water. "You're not going to be getting up for at least two weeks."

Lauren groaned.

"It could be worse," Shepard motioned for Chakwas to hand her the cup. "You could be in a hospital in the wards."

"No," Lauren moaned.

Shepard popped the straw into Lauren's mouth. "Here, drink."

Chakwas walked around the bed and to Lauren's left leg. She pulled the blanket back to get a better look at the bandage that covered up her handiwork. "Your bandages don't need to be changed for a few more hours. But you're doing well so far."

"Mmph."

Shepard pulled the straw out of Lauren's mouth and pulled the cup back. "What?"

"Tired," Lauren mumbled. Her eyes were starting to droop and she was blinking slowly.

Chakwas gently tucked Lauren's legs in. "Do you want me to dim the lights again?"

Lauren didn't answer. Her eyes were shut and she was breathing slowly, like she was asleep.

"That was fast." Chakwas walked back to her terminal.

"Is that normal?" Shepard asked.

Chakwas leaned forward and went back to typing. "Being tired?"

"She just fell asleep so quickly. Is that normal?"

Chakwas glanced at Shepard. "Yes. Now let her sleep, Commander."

Shepard sighed and pretended to mope. "Alright…I'll just go find someone else to bother."

* * *

There was actually no one else to bother, so Shepard got herself a cup of coffee and went back to work. She forwarded instructions to Joker and retreated back to her cabin. This left the pilot in charge of getting the Normandy to its destination on his own.

"Where are we headed?" EDI asked Joker.

Joker brought up Shepard's report. "We have to go investigate a Cerberus lab on Sanctum and deal with that, and then we're headed to Eden Prime. Apparently there's some sort of artifact there."

"Is that all?"

"No, then there's something here about going to Urla Rast to fetch an artifact." Joker leaned to the right and pressed another button, focusing on navigating the complicated space around the Citadel and reaching the relay. "It looks like we're running errands before we go to Sur'Kesh."

"Hey Joker," Deacon walked up into the cockpit. "Do you know where we're going?"

Joker looked over his shoulder. "Hey Josiah – we're running errands."

"Really?" Deacon sighed. "I was hoping for something to shoot."

"It looks like you might actually get that – our first stop is to investigate a Cerberus lab on Sanctum."

"Huh."

Joker looked over his shoulder at Deacon. "What?"

Deacon looked rather deep in thought. "It's just weird. Cerberus is just being such a pain in the ass lately. First they send assassins after Hackett and now they're running amok and getting the Alliance's attention."

"Maybe the Illusive Man has finally figured out Cerberus is losing." Joker pressed a button on the flight controls.

"Yeah right," Deacon scoffed. "And krogans can fly."

"Don't tell Grunt that if you see him again – it might break his heart."

The two men both laughed.

"Don't crash the Normandy all right? I'm going to take a nap before we get to Sanctum." Deacon patted the top of Joker's chair.

"See ya, Commander."

* * *

_I'm so not sorry for spam updates. Enjoy~_


	11. Chapter 11

It was quiet. So quiet that the only sounds she could hear were her own breathing and heartbeat. Usually silence was comforting and reassuring, but it wasn't this time. No, she figured that it wouldn't be comforting while she remained trapped in the bed she was lying in. And she was literally trapped. She couldn't get up, she couldn't move her arms or legs, and she could barely move her head a few inches on either side. Deep down Lauren knew that she should just be grateful that she was even alive – she had almost been close enough to touch death. She knew that the doctor, Chakwas, had done all that she could with what resources she had available. The universe was in the middle of a war after all. Lauren opened her eyes and was instantly grateful for the dimmed lights. That was another reason why she hated hospitals – the blinding white lights and sterile white walls. White on white. Needless to say the color choice bothered her to no end. Aria didn't seem to have a problem with it.

_Aria_. Lauren couldn't see her anywhere and remembered vaguely that she'd said something before, back when she was awake the first time. When everything hurt, as compared to now, where everything was sore. Obviously if she didn't have painkillers in her system she would be in some serious pain. But she was beaten and stabbed.

_Why the hell am I thinking about this? Oh right_, Lauren thought as she shifted her head to look at her left arm. _Because I have nothing else to do_.

"Damn arm." She muttered out loud.

"Problems?" A voice, somewhat snarky and sarcastic grazed her ears.

Lauren groaned. "Deacon?"

"Do I really sound like him? I spend too much time around him," A guy, wearing a hat, sidled within her field of view.

"Who-" Lauren coughed violently, her chest aching. "-the fuck are you?"

"There's that attitude I've heard so much about." The man walked past her bedside and disappeared. "My name's Joker – Chakwas said I could pop in and fix my finger."

Lauren's brain was still drugged and hazy, but she remembered that name. Deacon had said it once upon a time…

He must have noticed the look on her face. "I'm the pilot of the Normandy." He shuffled back in her view and sat down on the bed next to hers with some things in his lap.

Lauren remembered him. "The smartass one?" She coughed again.

"You sound wonderful," Joker said sarcastically. "Did the Commander call me that?"

Lauren nodded her head. Joker snorted and went about wrapping his finger. Lauren watched as he pressed a splint to it and wrapped it, his other hand making quick work of it. Without really having to pay attention, Lauren could tell that he had done that before.

"Broken?" She asked.

"Yep," Joker nodded. "I would have come down earlier to fix it, but I had to get the Normandy in orbit around Sanctum so the Commanders could go down."

"Commanders?"

Joker looked at her like she was kidding. "Commander Shepard and Commander Deacon – when they go somewhere together, they're the Commanders. When they're apart it's the Spectre and the Commander."

Lauren snorted.

"What? Do you have a better idea for nicknames for the two of them?" Joker asked. Lauren wasn't really able to have conversations, but she was more interesting to talk to then the rest of the crew or EDI.

Lauren frowned. She didn't really have nicknames for them; they were usually just Shepard and Deacon or Josiah and Aeron in certain company. They weren't 'Commanders'. "It's weird." She said finally.

"What is?" Joker asked.

"Forgot they were Commanders," Lauren coughed again. This time it actually hurt. "Ouch."

"Yeah, the coughing will hurt. You'll get over it after a while, when the ribs heal up." Joker stepped forward and looked at the many IV's that were in Lauren's right arm. "It looks like she's got you on a shit load of meds. That means the ribs are going to heal up first so you'll be able to sit up in a few days."

"Thought you were the pilot?" Lauren coughed again.

"You should stop talking," Joker pointed out. "If you can't say more than a few words, don't. The coughing means your lungs are healing yeah, but the talking agitates the tissue. But yeah, I'm the pilot. I know all the medical stuff because I've spent a fair portion of my life in hospitals."

Lauren coughed again. Her ribs were killing her. And she was starting to get tired again. She blinked.

"Have a nice nap," Joker looked at his finger and examined his work before heading for the door.

"Wait," Lauren couldn't see him anymore. "Question."

Joker walked over. "Yes?"

"Cover?" Lauren moved her toes on her left foot, which was cold.

Joker readjusted the blanket to cover her foot. "Yeah that'll happen. Anything else?"

Lauren shook her head.

"Good. You're lucky that I have experience with sick people." He walked out, leaving Lauren alone again.

Lauren yawned and closed her eyes, drifting back off to sleep.

* * *

Deacon jogged into the shuttle with Liara right behind him. Cortez glanced at him as he sidled into the cockpit of the small shuttlecraft. The Operative smiled wearily at the pilot before touching his earpiece.

"Come on Shepard, we've searched the whole place. Everybody who was here is dead now."

He heard Shepard sigh. "I told you I saw something on a computer panel and I went back for it. Calm down," the Spectre walked onto the shuttle and took a seat next to Liara.

"Let's go Cortez."

Cortez nodded and gently tapped the controls for the shuttle. Deacon left the cockpit and walked back out to take a seat on the other side of Liara. Shepard looked incredibly pissed or was deep in thought (he couldn't really tell the difference anymore), so he wasn't going to take a seat next to her. Liara looked calm and stoic, like she always did.

"What's wrong Shepard?" Liara asked.

"Can I ask you a question Liara? It's been bugging me for a while."

"What is it?"

Shepard crossed her arms in front of her chest. "What exactly is a bondmate?"

Liara looked at Shepard in a sort of shock. "Excuse me? Where did that come from?"

Deacon chuckled. "This is about Lauren isn't it?"

"Yes," Shepard said gruffly. "It's bugged me since the first time I heard that word back when we were chasing Saren, but now with Lauren…I just want to make sure I understand the concept."

"I seem to be missing something." Liara looked confused.

"Aria put herself down on Lauren's paperwork as her bondmate." Deacon explained. "Shepard wants to know more about it so she knows that she _understands_ it."

Liara was taken back. "They're bondmates? Hmm…well stranger things have happened. They must have bonded just recently before the war started because I haven't heard a thing."

"You can't know everything Shadow Broker."

"That's not it," Liara shook her head. "An asari matriarch, one as powerful as Aria, bonding with a human would be considered very unusual among my species. News like that tends to spread fast."

"Okay, before I start getting any more confused, explain the term 'bondmate'." Shepard thumped her head against the wall of the shuttle behind her head.

"A bondmate is someone that an asari has not only chosen to spend her life with, but has also joined consciousness with."

"I'm guessing that's a really intimate?" Deacon asked.

"Extremely," Liara leaned back up against the wall of the shuttle. "The practice is reserved only for an asari's closest friends and bondmates. Aria and Lauren must be very close."

"Wait, I'm confused."

Liara and Deacon groaned. Explaining a new concept to her was like attempting to teach a krogan how to use a door.

"Joined consciousness?" Shepard asked. "What the hell does that mean?"

Liara looked offended and her cheeks were somewhat bluer. "It means they've shared thoughts, memories, and even feelings. They, at some point, were considered one whole nervous system."

Shepard stared blankly at Liara before she realized what she was saying. But she still thumped her head against the wall of the shuttle again, obviously still frustrated. "Alright, it's intimate. I get that. But what does that make them? Married?"

"Technically, yes. Lauren's new name, if Aria kept her own, should be Lauren T'Loak. But I have known humans to keep their own names and refuse their bondmate's. If she's followed human practices then Lauren's full name should be Lauren Hackett T'Loak. You'd have to ask her."

Deacon made a strangled noise. "Damn, Lauren's _married_ and we can't even get dates."

"I blame you." Shepard said dryly. "You scared away Kaidan."

"Excuse me?" Deacon leaned forward to glare at Shepard. "Who scared away Mercer during our training days?"

"He was a jerk!"

"He was into me!"

"He was a bastard!"

Liara groaned. "Goddess, there they go again." She got up and moved to the seat on the other side of Shepard, leaving the two humans alone to argue.

"HE WAS NOT!"

"HE WAS TOO!"

"DO **NOT** MAKE ME COME BACK THERE!" Cortez yelled from the cockpit.

Both Commanders turned around at once. "SHUT UP STEVE!" They yelled.

"MAKE ME!"

There really was a lack of professionalism on the Normandy, Liara noted as she buried her face in her hands and groaned.


	12. Chapter 12

Liara noticed that the crew did get better about acting professional, but Deacon and Shepard did not. There was something about the two of them when they were in the same room. Apparently crazy _was_ contagious. But Liara wasn't too worried about the two of them. She was more worried about where they were headed next. The Normandy was finally headed to Eden Prime after several delays, mostly because the ship had to refuel and the drive core had to be discharged several times. So the asari was busy working on learning all the details she could about the colony they were headed for, and the artifact that was supposed to be there.

Well, she had been working until she cut herself on a piece of metal in her office. Liara didn't have any medical supplies in her office, so she had to go to Chakwas. She knew Lauren was still inside the medical bay, but she hadn't bothered to ask about the mercenary's condition. But she had overheard things from the crew when she ventured out of her office to get herself from tea.

"-Can I at least attempt to get up on my own?" Lauren's voice sounded impatient.

"We've gone through this-"

"Can I try once? If I can't sit up on my own I will never complain again about it."

Liara watched as Chakwas and Shepard both backed away from Lauren's bed, giving the injured mercenary some space. She watched Lauren struggle for a brief second before she managed to use her right arm to prop herself up. When she began to slip, Shepard stepped in and put a hand in the middle of Lauren's back.

"Nothing wrong with accepting help," Shepard advised her as she helped her sit up completely.

"In my line of work, accepting help usually means opening yourself up to a betrayal later on. But thanks for the advice," Lauren still sounded like she was in some pain.

Chakwas noticed the blood on Liara's hand and waved her over. Liara just held out her hand and Chakwas began looking over it, finally walking the asari over to her desk to get a better look.

"So let me ask you something," Shepard said. "Since you're awake and able to sit up, I figure that your brain must be working too."

"Yeah…" Lauren looked at Shepard.

"What's with asari? Did you _just_ find them attractive or have you been holding back vital information from me?"

Lauren's mouth dropped. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

Lauren glanced at Liara with a pained expression. "I'm not dignifying that with an answer."

Shepard seemed to deflate. "Alright…but can I at least know what they _taste_ like?"

"Shepard!" This time it was Chakwas and not Lauren.

Lauren started violently coughing and laughing at the same time, sending her into a wheezing fit. Shepard patted Lauren on the back and fetched the oxygen line next to her bed. Lauren snatched the oxygen mask from her and slapped Shepard's hand. She responded by acting like she'd been insulted on a personal level. It was like they were friends again, considering their history.

"Pervert," Lauren wheezed out.

"You're so original," Shepard straightened herself up. "Take a nap or something."

Lauren rolled her eyes before collapsing on the bed. "What else am I going to do? Get up and dance?"

* * *

"JOKER!"

The pilot jumped in his chair, ripping his earpieces out of his ears in the process. He turned around to see Shepard saunteering up from the galaxy map with a grin on her face.

"Fuck Shepard - don't do that! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?!" The pilot asked angrily.

Shepard just laughed and patted the pilot on the head. "Aw, did I spook you?"

"No, I think you might have broken my shins though."

"You're in a snarky mood today," Shepard commented.

"I tend to do that when someone comes and scares the crap out of me." Joker replied dryly. "What do you want?"

Shepard looked in the co-pilot chair and noticed that EDI wasn't sitting there. "How long until we reach Eden Prime?"

"About fifteen hours." Joker tapped on a few of his monitors. "Why?"

"Just wondering. I got a message about meeting someone on the Citadel, a scientist or something. After we're done on Eden Prime we're headed back there."

"Shore leave?" Joker looked up at Shepard.

Shepard scowled at the pilot's puppy eyes. "If you promise to babysit Vega, sure."

"Why?" Joker whined.

Shepard raised an eyebrow at him.

"Fine." Joker huffed. "I'll babysit James."

Shepard patted Joker on the head. "Good pilot."

"Be careful Shepard," Garrus said as he walked into the cockpit. "He might decide to break an arm at you."

"Watch it smart ass," Joker said over his shoulder at the approaching turian.

Garrus turned his attention to Shepard. "Liara wants to know who's going groundside with you on Eden Prime."

"You and Liara. James's head is getting a little to big for my tastes, Josiah needs a break, and I don't know where EDI is." Shepard bumped the turian on the shoulder. "You okay with going artifact hunting?"

"Of course not," Garrus smiled. "It'll be just like old times."

"Please don't say that." Joker moaned. "Bad things happen when you say that."

"Name one bad thing."

"How about the time you almost blew up a refinery?" Joker suggested.

"Or the time when we boarded the Collector's ship and almost died?" Garrus added.

Shepard smacked the both of them on the head - she only hit Joker lightly so she wouldn't break his skull open. "The two of you will be the death of me, I swear."

* * *

Purgatory's music didn't do a thing to lift Aria's spirits. She was sitting in her usual spot with a scowl on her face, despite the fact that she had her favorite drink in one hand and good news in the other. She had attempted to get over her bad mood, but the fact that Lauren wasn't sitting by her side soured every attempt that she made. So here she was, sitting in Purgatory with the music on full blast like usual, with a scowl on her face.

Bray had noticed her mood and was playing interference with people that came to talk to the mercenary boss, in an attempt to keep her from taking out her frustrations on another person. He had seen her bad moods before and knew that he stood no chance of stopping her from beating the shit out of some unsuspecting visitor when they pissed her off. And everyone pissed her off at some point in a conversation - it was only a matter of what nerve they struck.

Without Lauren sitting by her side or without her presence in the bar, Aria was literally a ticking time bomb. The blonde mercenary wasn't just her second-in-command, but also her lightning rod. She had some uncanny ability to get Aria to let go of whatever was bothering her. But she wasn't here now.

"You seem distracted," Derimus said as he walked up, his talons wrapped around a glass full of something red.

Aria narrowed her eyes at him. "You do realize that you're one of Sapphire's agents and not one of mine?"

"And yet you're still talking to me." Derimus clicked his mandibles, a sign of concern. "Why so hostile?"

Aria tilted her head towards the left side of her couch. "Notice who's still missing?"

Derimus made an amused clicking sound that Aria's translator didn't catch. "Just call her if you're so worried. I'm sure Shepard would let a communication through if you asked politely."

Aria looked away from Derimus and at the empty spot on her couch.

"But then again, when do you ever ask politely?" Derimus shrugged. "I just came to check on you - she'd want me to. And I'm sure she'd appreciate a call."

He turned and left the VIP lounge, headed back for the bar with his drink in hand. Aria's thoughts wandered to her bondmate and how she was doing. Chakwas sent her updates everyday about her recovery, so Aria knew she was doing well. She'd been under Chakwas's care for almost eleven days now and was slowly starting to drive the poor doctor insane.

Aria smirked. Eleven days of doing nothing was probably driving her poor wife insane.

* * *

Chakwas walked into the medical bay, her face buried in a datapad that Shepard had given her about their newest recruit, Javik. The prothean had taken to hiding himself in Grunt's old hideaway in Engineering after he was introduced to the crew. Chakwas had managed to converse with him for a few minutes and introduced herself as the doctor. The prothean was wholly surprised that a female human was the resident doctor, but had shared vital medical information about himself in case he was ever injured.

Chakwas glanced at Lauren's bed and then looked back down at her datapad before realizing that the bed was empty. She stopped dead in her tracks and looked again at Lauren's bed. It was still empty. Chakwas glanced around the medical bay and set her datapad down on her desk and walked for the AI core, hoping that the mercenary was there. But she was not.

Chakwas stopped in the middle of the medical bay and took a deep breath. Despite the fact that Lauren was better, she was still weak. She couldn't have gone far, even if she had managed to get up and walk. She had to still be somewhere on this deck. Chakwas stalked out of the medical bay and into the mess hall.

"-I'm just saying, this is starting to get weird." Deacon pointed his fork at Liara. "It's like she's collecting us."

"Commander," Chakwas walked over. "I hate to interrupt, but have you seen Lauren?"

Deacon looked at the doctor and blinked a few times. "She's not in the medical bay is she?"

Chakwas shook her head.

Deacon dropped his fork on his tray and looked at everyone in the mess hall. He whistled sharply, getting everyone's attention. "Anybody see a five foot six injured blonde woman wandering around?" He asked loudly.

Everyone shook their heads.

Deacon sighed and turned on his omni-tool, after a few brief seconds Shepard's voice could be heard.

"What do you want now? I'm trying to sleep."

"Aeron," Deacon rubbed at his face. "Lauren's missing."

There was a few seconds of silence. "Funny joke."

"I'm not joking," Deacon grunted. "She's not in the medical bay."

"Well then where the hell is she?" Shepard asked.

"I thought YOU knew." Deacon said irritably. "I figured you might have something to do with this."

"No, I do not. Start looking for her and tell me when you find her."

Deacon turned off his omni-tool and stood up. "Let's check the crew deck first. Chakwas go look in the woman's restroom and the crew's bunks. I'll go check the main battery and everywhere else."

He walked off towards the main battery, hoping that he wasn't going to interrupt anything Garrus might be doing. The door opened and he took a step inside. He looked around and didn't see any blonde hair anywhere.

"Lost something?" Garrus asked from his bunk.

Deacon looked at the turian dead in the eye. "Lauren's missing."

His mandibles twitched. "Did you tell Shepard?"

Deacon nodded.

Garrus made a rumbling sound that Deacon recognized. He was _laughing_.

"What's so funny?" Deacon asked.

The turian's mandibles twitched. "You can't find her and your first thought was to come and look in here."

"She's still weak, so she couldn't have gone far. I assumed she'd holed herself in here with you maybe, you used to be a mercenary, and she's a mercenary."

"Nice try, but no. She's not in here." Garrus rolled back over.

"Sorry to bother you Garrus."

The turian grunted as Deacon left the main battery.

* * *

Lauren's every muscle protested as she walked across the floor of the shuttle bay. But she was walking without any help from a crutch or from a doctor. It was hard, but she was walking. Her left leg ached and her left arm was still completely immobile, but she was up and moving. All she had to do was keep moving until her muscles gave up on her. It was her own version of physical therapy – a version that Chakwas would not approve of.

Then again the doctor probably wouldn't approve of her getting out of her bed, dressing herself, and then walking to the shuttle bay. But Lauren had to get up, she had to do something. Lying in the medical bay with nothing to do was driving her insane. When she was wounded on Omega she at least had things to do that kept her occupied.

She set her left foot down, realizing too late that she was at an angle, and slipped. She fell to the floor on her back, knocking all the air out of her lungs. She held still and took a deep breath, waiting for all the pain to fade away.

"Fuck," she grunted.

"_Usted está bien a niña_?" A man's voice asked.

Spanish. Lauren squinted at the ceiling of the shuttle bay. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Heavy footsteps approached her quickly. "The Commander mentioned you speak Spanish – you know you've got him and Chakwas looking for you right?"

Lauren tilted her head to the side and got a look at the man who was talking to her. He had a square jaw with dark eyes and dark hair that was cropped on both sides of his head. She could see a tattoo on the side of his neck by his shirt collar. He screamed Alliance marine, but not gun fodder.

"Marine?" She asked.

The man nodded. "Yeah – I'm Lieutenant James Vega."

"Ground team or support?" Lauren asked.

"Neither, I'm a squad mate of Shepard's."

Lauren blinked. "Well then, color me surprised. Care to help up a mercenary Lieutenant?" She held up her right hand.

James grabbed her hand and helped haul the woman onto her feet. Lauren held onto James's arm for a few seconds until she was steady on her feet.

"What are you doing down here anyway?"

Lauren let go of James's arm and took a step forward. "My version of physical therapy," Lauren mumbled.

James walked next to her, worried that she might fall and hurt herself. "Don't want to be in the medical bay anymore, do you?"

"Nope – I was going crazy."

James chuckled. "Don't you think you should have told someone where you were going?"

"I really could care less at this point if anyone knew where I was – I just want to get back to the Citadel. Besides, I've been on this ship for almost eleven days and haven't been allowed to get up. My lungs and leg are healed; I just have to get the muscles back to work." Lauren looked at James. "You're not going to tell on me are you?"

James shrugged. "I don't know; the Commander is going nuts looking for you. He might flip a lid on me if I _don't_ tell him where you are."

She stopped walking. "He still has that temper?"

"There you are!" Deacon's voice said angrily from behind her.

Lauren looked over her shoulder. Deacon looked oddly different. "Is your hair longer?" she asked.

He narrowed his eyes at her as he stalked over. "What the hell are you doing? You're supposed to be in the medical bay recovering, not walking around." He stopped suddenly, his face turning into a look of surprise. "You're walking on your own?"

Lauren looked at her feet and took two unsteady steps towards him. "Yeah – it hurts like fuck still. I just couldn't stand fucking lying there anymore. It's boring."

"There's a reason why you're supposed to be lying down. You still need rest."

Lauren wiggled her toes and looked at her feet. She was tired. "Do I have to go back to the medical bay and sleep?"

"No," Shepard suddenly rounded the corner around some crates. She had a scowl on her face and her hair was sticking out in different directions. "She's going up to my quarters so I can make sure you don't lose her again."

"I didn't lose her," Deacon retorted. "If anything she lost herself."

Everyone stared at Deacon for a few seconds.

The engineer made a face. "That sounded way better in my head."

James snickered and patted the engineer on his shoulder. "Loco, everything sounds better in your head."

Deacon looked at Shepard. The spectre shrugged.

"He's kind of right." Shepard said.

Deacon frowned and Lauren laughed, wrapping her right arm around her ribcage.

"Alright, enough jokes. Come on," Shepard put her hand in the middle of Lauren's back. "There's a couch in my quarters you can sleep on without being prodded by the good doctor."

"Thank the goddess," Lauren muttered.

"I'm just going to stay here then," Deacon said loudly as he crossed his arms. "And just forget that I spent the last hour looking for Lauren."

"Have fun!" Shepard said in a sing-song voice.

Shepard led her friend to the elevator and pressed the button for the captain's quarters. Lauren followed her inside and leaned against the wall of the elevator. Shepard stood in the middle of the elevator, her arms crossed and her hip cocked to one side.

"So explain to me what you were thinking when you decided you were going to get up and leave the medical bay." Shepard's voice was apathetic, emotionless.

Lauren shrugged as best as she could without wincing. "I wasn't really."

"You do realize that you not only worried Josiah and Dr. Chakwas, but about half the crew?" Shepard kept staring at the elevator door, as still as a statue.

"If you're looking for an apology, you're not going to get one." Lauren's lungs ached.

"I'm not looking for an apology," Shepard said calmly. "I'm trying to point out that you can't just do whatever you want on my ship. You were supposed to stay in the medical bay so Chakwas could keep an eye on you."

"I'll make sure to tell them the next time I decide to get up and take a walk."

The elevator opened, revealing a small hallway that led to a single door. Shepard uncrossed her arms and walked out. Lauren followed her through, but stopped at the door.

"Come on in," Shepard walked inside and to a rather large desk to her left. The Spectre tapped the intercom. "Dr. Chakwas?"

"I'm sorry, Commander. We still haven't found her."

"I found her in the shuttle bay, Chakwas. I'm going to keep her up here until we dock at the Citadel, so you can get some sleep."

"Understood, Commander."

"Goodnight Chakwas."

"Goodnight Shepard."


	13. Chapter 13

_The night air of Thessia was warm, reminding Lauren of the coastline back in Rio. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, enjoying the breeze. Two hands wrapped around her waist and she smiled. She knew who it was without having to even open her eyes._

_"Can't sleep?" Lauren asked quietly as she opened her eyes._

_Aria's blue eyes stare at her. "I'm worried about you."_

_"Why?" Lauren turns around, leaning her back against the balcony railing. Aria steps forward and presses her head against Lauren's chest. "I'm fine."_

_"Your heart beat says different." Aria's voice is muffled by Lauren's loose shirt._

_Lauren wraps her arms around Aria and kisses the top of Aria's crest. "I'm just thinking of things, that's all."_

_"You're not worried about tomorrow?" Aria asks, wrapping her arms around Lauren's waist._

_"Why would I be worried?" Lauren closes her eyes and relaxes. "It's just a ceremony, Aria. I went through a lot of those when I was in the Alliance."_

_Aria smiles and relaxes, the tension of the past few days disappearing as Lauren held onto her. If anyone had told her years ago that she would find complete comfort in a human's arms, she would have laughed at them. But there was something about the way Lauren held onto her – tightly but yet tenderly at the same time – that made her feel so safe._

_After a minute Lauren took a deep breath. "You're not asleep are you?" the human mumbled._

_"No," Aria laughs as she pulled away. "Are you falling asleep?"_

_Lauren nods. "Do we have to be up early?" She asks._

_"Yes we do." Aria gently grabs one of her hands and leads her back inside the hotel room they were staying in. "Come on."_

_"Yes ma'am," Lauren yawns._

* * *

Lauren shifted and opened her eyes. It took her a second to realize that she wasn't waking up in a soft bed next to Aria on the morning of their bonding ceremony, but rather on the couch in Shepard's cabin. She closed her eyes again and tried to recapture the memory, but it was already gone. Sighing, she rolled over on her side and glanced around the cabin.

"Shepard?" Lauren called.

There was no answer. Shepard was obviously somewhere else aboard her ship.

Lauren hoisted herself into a sitting position with her right arm, scowling the whole time at her left arm. Her muscles still ached, but they didn't hurt anymore. She flexed her fingers and wiggled her toes until she was satisfied that they were still working correctly and then stood up. A flash of orange in the corner of her eye caught her attention. There was a datapad on the seat across from her. Lauren bent over and picked it up. She fumbled with her right hand and turned it on without dropping it.

_There's a change of clothes here for you. It's not Alliance dress, it's actually civilian. Feel free to use my bathroom and you can wander around the ship all you want; Chakwas assured me that all you need is physical therapy and that's what walking apparently is. If you need any help bug Specialist Traynor on the CIC outside the elevator. -Shepard_

"Well, she must be busy." Lauren set the datapad down on the couch and looked at the clothes that Shepard had left. It was obviously standard civilian wear for Shepard - plain and without any color. Lauren usually wore deep, rich colors like plum or ivy, but it was better than nothing. She scooped up the clothes and walked unsteadily towards the upper level of Shepard's cabin. She stopped at the top of the stairs and looked at the only other door in the large cabin. It had to be the bathroom.

And it was. But something about it was way off to Lauren. It was clean - way too clean. Bottles on a small shelf were all perfectly layed out, each with their labels out so they could be read. Towels were folded neatly on a shelf and other various items were all lined up by the sink. Everyone knew that Shepard had a problem when it came to her quarters, but this was way more obsessive than normal.

"She's turned into a nutjob." Lauren muttered as she examined the bottles. One labeled as 'hair dye' caught her eye.

"And she's dying her hair." Lauren straightened up. "Yep - she's gone off the deep end."

The mercenary dropped the bundle of clothes on an empty shelf and stripped out of her own clothes. She had to be careful not to jostle her left arm or her ribcage when she took her shirt off, but she was glad when it came off easily. Lauren takes a few seconds to look over herself for any bruises before she turns the shower on and steps under the stream of water.

The water is freezing when it hits Lauren's skin.

"Motherfucker-" Lauren gasped and backed out of the spray.

She stared accusingly at the shower head for a few seconds before she dared to stick her hand in the spray again. The water wasn't freezing, it was warm. Shepard must have it set to start out cold and then get warmer in order to wake her up. If she had to have her shower wake her up completely, then she was definately having problems with stress.

"And I'm the crazy one for becoming a merc." Lauren mumbled as she stepped into the shower again.

She stuck her head directly under the stream of hot water and closed her eyes, letting the water wash her face. The sensation of warm water did wonders to her aching muscles. Lauren turned the shower off after a few more minutes and looked down at her feet. She wiggled her toes and her fingers before she came to the decision that she should dry off and leave Shepard's cabin.

* * *

Samantha Traynor heard the familiar ding of the elevator behind her. It's not an uncommon sound for her to hear, but the voice that follows a few seconds later is.

"Specialist Traynor?"

She turned around and realizes that she's staring at a pair of very bright blue eyes. And blonde hair. This must have been the person Shepard had told her about. Lauren. "Good morning. Commander Shepard told me you'd be heading down at some point."

Lauren blinked. "Of course she did. You're Specialist Traynor?" She sounded British.

"I'm Communication Specialist Samantha Traynor, yes. You must be Lauren, Shepard's mercenary friend."

"Yes I am. Speaking of Shepard, do you know where she is?"

Traynor shifted and looked at her terminal. "Currently Commander Shepard is attending to the situation on Grissom Academy. She and Commander Deacon left two hours ago with EDI."

"Wonderful." Lauren mumbled.

"She did want me to take you into the war room, she said Admiral Hackett is expecting a call from you." Traynor looked at Lauren.

Lauren scowled. "_Memo to self; kill Shepard after she defeats the Reapers_. I guess I have to go call Admiral Hackett then."

Traynor blinked. Her translator didn't catch the first sentence, but Traynor could tell it was asari. "Please follow me."

Lauren walked slowly after Traynor. "I'd appreciate it if you could slow down, my leg still isn't at a hundred percent."

Traynor stopped and looked over her shoulder. "Oh, forgive me. I tend to walk fast." She backtracked to Lauren and slowed down to match her pace.

"So where exactly are we going?" Lauren asked Traynor. "I know of the CIC - combat information center - but not a war room."

"The war room is located just beyond that door. It's a strategy room, really. She can also make calls to her allies, like Admiral Hackett." Traynor paused. "Normally only people who have high enough clearance can enter the room, but she's asked me to make an exception on Admiral Hackett's orders. She wouldn't tell me why."

Lauren sighed and followed Traynor through the door and to what seemed to be a scanner. A marine suddenly stepped forward.

"Specialist," He nodded at Traynor and looked at Lauren.

"Admiral Hackett's orders," Traynor stepped into the scanner. "He's expecting her."

The marine stepped back, allowing Lauren to step into the scanner. She stood still for a few seconds before Traynor motioned for her to keep following. The door in front of them opened to reveal a large room filled with what appeared to be data terminals. The room sloped down towards a center terminal. Traynor walked down a few steps and stopped, looking at Lauren.

"Welcome to the war room," She said. "The QEC is over here."

Lauren sighed and looked at the stairs. "What is with the Alliance and stairs?"

Traynor looked amused. "I haven't the faintest idea. This way please."

The specialist led her to a side room, which Lauren knew instantly to be the vid comm room that Shepard must use to contact most of her allies. If she had any - Lauren doubted she was on board just because she had been wounded. Hopefully her father would shed some light on the subject.

"Click the console when you're ready, Admiral Hackett is expecting your call." Traynor left the room.

Lauren watched her to make sure she walked a distance away before clicking the call button on the console in front of her. Almost immediately her father's image appeared in front of her. He looked somewhat older than the last time she spoke to him on the Citadel two years ago.

"Ah, there you are." He sounded relieved and relaxed his arms at his sides. "Shepard told me that you would be well enough to call this morning."

Lauren smiled at her father. "Hi Dad."

"Hello Lauren. How are you feeling?"

Lauren looked at her left arm. "My left arm is refusing to work and my biotics are still slowly coming back. But I'm alright."

"I know, Chakwas sent me a copy of your paperwork." Hackett suddenly crossed his arms across his chest. "Which I read last night."

"You know that doesn't intimidate me at all, right?" Lauren crossed her own arms. "I'm not Shepard or Deacon - I am not afraid of you."

"Cut the crap," He said dryly. "When were you going to tell me you married an asari?"

Lauren cringed. "That was on the paperwork? Oh...well...fuck?"

"That **isn't** an answer, Lauren."

"Well what the fuck do you want me to say?" Lauren held her hands up. "Because as far as conversations go - I'm more of the silent-stare type."

"I would like to know why I had to find out **second-hand** that my only child got married. To an asari mercenary boss of all people." He stared at her. Suddenly Lauren knew why Shepard and Deacon were so afraid of him. He had one hell of an unsettling glare.

"Okay, one it happened right before the war and a lot of shit happened. And two, everyone has a soft side. I mean, look at you and mom. You were a hardass and mom was a complete badass. And yet I'm standing right here."

Hackett's mouth twitched.

_Now I know where I get that twitch from_, Lauren thought to herself.

"Your mother was not a badass. She was the hardass." Her father smiled at the memory of Lauren's mother. "But I see your point."

Lauren sighed in relief.

"But I would still like it if I heard this kind of stuff from you and not from a report," Hackett shook his head. "I'm getting too old for surprises."

"Trust me, there won't be any more surprises. At least not for a while."

"Lauren..."

"I'll be sure to tell you first if anything else happens, okay?" Lauren bit her lip.

He sighed. "Thank you."

"Anything else you want to bug me about? Or did that about cover it?"

"How does she treat you?" He didn't miss a beat. "And can I meet her?"

"She's a big softie when we're alone, but other than that she's a hardass mercenary. So she treats me fine." Lauren narrowed her eyes. "You want to **meet** her?"

Hackett raised an eyebrow at her. "Is that a problem?"

"No, it's just surprising. I'll see what I can do, but we're both busy with planning an assault on Omega. Which reminds me, do you know why Shepard's keeping me on this floating asylum of hers?"

_Oh holy shit, he's smirking,_ Lauren thought as she watched her father. "Why are you smirking?"

"Commander Shepard called and asked me this morning about allowing you on the Normandy as a member of her crew."

"What?" Her heart stopped.

Hackett was enjoying the sight of seeing his daughter speechless for once. "She also asked me, considering the circumstances, if you could be allowed back into the Alliance network so you could take up a command position on the Normandy if it's ever needed."

Lauren's jaw dropped. "_She asked you to offer me my job back?_"

Her father nodded. "Shepard needs all the help she can get. I don't necessarily agree with allowing you back into the Alliance after being absent for nine years, but she insisted upon it. That is, if you agreed to it. She stressed that she doesn't want to make you feel like you have to accept this job - she just wants you to consider it."

Lauren opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Why the hell would Shepard...?

"I told her that she shouldn't expect much from you, like you said, you're busy." Her father shrugged. "I have to go, Lauren."

"Okay," she finally squeaked out. "Bye. Be safe."

"Hackett out."

Her father's image disappeared, leaving her alone in the small room. Lauren just stared at where he'd once been standing, her mind having seizures about what she'd just heard. She didn't hear Traynor walk in until the Specialist put a hand on her arm.

Lauren jumped. "Fuck - Traynor you scared me."

"Sorry," Traynor said apologetically. "It's just that you were standing there. Are you alright?"

Lauren shook her head. "I don't really..." A lightbulb came on in her head. "Can I make another call?" Lauren asked Traynor.

Traynor seemed suspicious but nodded. "As long as it's on an encrypted channel, sure."

"Good, let me give you the information..."


	14. Chapter 14

Despite the fact that Purgatory was closed and the music was off, Aria could still hear the insufferable noise in her head. The asari lolled her head back on the couch in a vain attempt to get rid of the pounding headache that was preventing her from moving. Derimus had brought her a tonic that he regularly gave to people with hangovers, but Aria had set it down on the far end of the couch and didn't want to move.

"You have a call coming through," Bray's deep voice caused her to flinch.

"Put it through," Aria said to him without opening her eyes. She didn't give a fuck about who was calling her this early; she just wanted to get it over with so she could go back to suffering in silence.

"You don't have a hangover, do you?" A sultry voice graced her ears, causing the asari to sit up. Lauren was standing with one hand planted on her hip and a playful smile on her lips. "Because I might just be offended if you were drinking without me."

Aria's headache disappeared. "Be offended all you want," Aria responded. "It's your own fault that you're not here."

Lauren's smile widened and she chuckled. "You look absolutely miserable, you missing me already?"

"Always," Aria said with a smile. "How are you feeling?"

"Like a caged bird," Lauren stuck out her lip and mock-pouted. "But other than that, I'm doing fine. Shepard's doctor has cleared me for physical therapy, so I'm at a hundred percent. Or eighty percent."

"Don't attempt to do math - you might blow a nerve."

Lauren raised an eyebrow and cocked her other hip. "So says the woman who throws people out of airlocks. Anyway, I thought I'd call and tell you how I was doing. I know Chakwas has been sending you encrypted messages, but I thought you'd enjoy hearing from me."

Aria relaxed into the couch. "I do enjoy hearing your sarcastic voice, thank you."

"That's not all I called about though. You'll like this one - I've been offered to join Shepard's crew and rejoin the Alliance."

"You're not seriously considering it, are you?" Aria leaned forward, her headache returning with a vengeance.

"Do I look like I'm considering it?" Lauren asked seriously. "Besides it was just thrown at me by my father, I've barely had time to even think about it. Oh, he knows by the way."

Aria figured as much. Not much escaped Steven Hackett's view - especially not things that involved Lauren. She'd let the job subject drop since Lauren had changed the subject. Obviously she didn't want to talk about it on an unsecured channel. "What'd he say?"

"Something along the lines of, 'please keep me informed of things like this' and 'please don't do anything you'll regret'. So the usual, with more glares and posturing," Lauren said dryly.

Aria smiled. "You have such a caring father." She said sarcastically.

Lauren snorted. "Caring is not in his vocabulary, but he is trying. He just doesn't like surprises." She suddenly looked over her shoulder.

"Do you have to go?" Aria sat up.

Lauren nodded. "There are more important calls that I guess have to be made by someone else."

"Be careful," Aria said quietly. "Don't let Shepard get you blown up."

Lauren laughed a sound that Aria rarely heard. "I'll make sure she doesn't kill me. I'll send a message when I can."

* * *

Lauren stood in the elevator that would take her down to the crew deck. Her call to Aria had been short and not as long as she would have liked, but Traynor apparently had things to do and she didn't want to intrude. But it was nice to see Aria's face again – seeing her smile had really cheered Lauren up.

But the job offer from her father – to rejoin the Alliance and fight with Shepard – was the only thing on her mind. She'd be lying if she said she hadn't considered it before. The offer had been tempting when Shepard was fighting the Collectors. But now with Omega being occupied by Cerberus, it didn't seem right to even consider that job until she was sure that Omega was back in Aria's hands.

"Why is everything getting so fucking complicated?" Lauren groaned. "Why can't it just be, shoot this and blow that up, like it used to be?"

The elevator door opened and Lauren stepped out into the hallway, shoving her hands in her pockets. She was hungry for real food – not that protein crap that Chakwas had been giving her. She kept her head low and walked around the corner, hearing the chatter from the crew that was loitering around the mess hall.

She glanced up at the counter and noticed that marine she'd met earlier, Vega. He seemed to notice her too.

"Vega right?" She asked.

"We like to call him Jimmy, but that is his name." A turian sitting by the medical bay windows said.

Lauren stopped in her tracks. His voice seemed so familiar to her. Lauren had met many wanna-be mercenaries when they wandered into Afterlife. Most of them looked and acted like they were badasses, but all of them ended up turning into bullet fodder by the end of the week. All except one. She remembered the turian the moment she saw him walk into Afterlife. He didn't walk like a mercenary, he didn't talk like one, and he sure as hell didn't act like one. He was the only mercenary that she had actually taken interest in, and had ever willingly saved before. He didn't look the same, but he stood the same way as that mercenary she'd saved a long time ago.

"Archangel?"

Garrus flicked his mandibles. "Sapphire."

"Thought your name was Lauren." Vega looked confused.

"The people she kills know her as Sapphire," Garrus stood up and walked over.

"Are you calling me a murderer, Archangel?"

"I just call it like I see it." Garrus said in a flat tone, staring at her.

Lauren didn't move under his gaze. "Then you should be introducing yourself as the _angel of death_. I'll even vouch for you."

The crew inside the mess hall were watching, all of them abandoning their food in order to watch. Only a few of them understood what was going on, the rest were watching the affair somewhat confused. It was a game that was played a lot - the universally understood game of 'chicken'. After a few seconds Garrus chuckled and backed away, showing subtle signs of obeisance. He held out his hand. Lauren took his hand and gently shook it.

"Glad to see you're not dead. T'Loak would have had a field day on Shepard's ass if you died." He said as he let go of her hand.

"I'm glad I'm not dead too," Lauren said with a smirk. "What are you going as now?"

"Vakarian. I'm a soldier now." Garrus's voice was flat.

"Pity, you made a good merc."

"Not nearly as good as you," Garrus pointed out. "Still going through walls, Sapphire?"

Lauren smirked. "I would show you, but Shepard might kick my ass for tearing through a bulkhead. But I'll gladly throw you through a wall if you ask politely."

The turian chuckled. "It's nice to see that your near death experience didn't completely change you."

"I like to think of it like a slightly irritating flesh wound. That reminds me, you still playing tag with rockets?"

Garrus started laughing. "You heard about that?" He touched the scarred side of his face. "How?"

"How was I not going to hear about it? You took a rocket to your fucking face, not many mercs come back from that. You, good sir, are a legend on Omega for that. You could probably drop your name at any bar and get free drinks for a night."

"I might have to do that sometime." The turian chuckled. "What are you doing down here? Thought Shepard took you up to her cabin."

She rolled her eyes. "Contrary to popular belief, I actually have to eat."

"Lucky for you there's actually good food for a change," Vega gestured over his shoulder. "Although there probably isn't much left, but there is fresh coffee."

She scrunched her face up. "Syntho-coffee or actual coffee?"

"Syntho," Vega replied with a grimace. "It's good if you put enough sugar in it."

"Yuck," Lauren grimaced. "I think I'd rather just eat an energy bar if you have any."

Vega nodded and stood up, reaching into an open door on the other side of the counter. He snatched one up and tossed it to Lauren. "We have a lot on board; no one will eat the damn things. They're always in this drawer here if you ever want any more."

Lauren tore the wrapper off the bar and sniffed the bar questioningly. "Good, it's not stale. I always managed to get the stale bars back when I served." Lauren took a bite. The bars always tasted like a weird mixture of fruit and crackers, but they were good. And filling.

"How the hell can you eat those?" Kenneth asked from his seat at the table.

She hastily swallowed the bar. "They're better than ration bars."

"Anything is better than ration bars," Vega said with a smirk. "Even dirt."

Some of the crew laughed.

"I would say you should try turian ration bars, but that might kill you." Garrus said casually.

"I'll try one if you try a human one." Vega said grimly. "I'd take deadly allergic reaction to eating those damn things any day."

Lauren snickered and noticed Chakwas sitting in the medical bay watching her. She waved two fingers at the doctor, who frowned at her. The elderly woman extended one finger and made a 'come hither' sign. Lauren glanced at the crew, who were now absorbed in either their food or were watching James and Garrus. She walked as quickly and as quietly as she could into the medical bay.

"Yes, doctor?" She asked her mouth full of energy bar.

"Swallow your food before you talk."

She dry swallowed the energy bar. "You wanted me?"

Chakwas nodded. "I want to get a look at your nervous system today and see if your arm is healing."

Lauren looked at her left arm. "I can move it and my fingers; it just hurts when I jerk it around."

"That means the bandage can come off." Chakwas stood up and walked to the supply cabinet on the far end of the room. She began to rummage around. "Take a seat on one of the beds and let's take a look."

Lauren obeyed, shoving the rest of the energy bar in her mouth before she sat down. She watched as Chakwas came back over, a pair of scissors in her hand and a brace in the other.

"Wiggle your fingers for me." She ordered.

Her fingers didn't really move all that much at first, but after a few seconds she showed Chakwas that she could touch her thumb to all her fingers. She'd practiced last night while Shepard was snoring away in her bed, unable to sleep because of the noise.

"Alright, now for the bandages," Chakwas grabbed Lauren's left arm and quickly cut the bandages off her forearm.

There were scrapes and a large amount of bruising, but otherwise her arm looked like normal. Some of the bruises were purple now, in an advanced state of healing. Lauren wiggled her fingers again and gently moved her wrist.

"You heal remarkably well. I'm going to assume it's because of the cybernetics in your arm." Chakwas noted as she turned her hand over to get a look at the inside of her wrist.

"You mean because of the whole arm," Lauren said somberly. "It's all cybernetics and synthetic bone. The only thing that's real is the muscle and flesh above that."

"I know – it's a remarkable example of cybernetic remolding. Well, besides Shepard." Chakwas began to cut away at the bandages on her elbow and upper arm.

"Shepard has cybernetics?" Lauren asked. She hadn't really pegged Shepard as the kind that would want them. But she did do dangerous things.

"You never heard the story?" Chakwas asked as she tugged the last bandage off to get a look at the stitches underneath. "It's actually rather funny now. Back when we worked for Cerberus against our own wills it was a very touchy subject."

An image of the Normandy with that damned orange logo on it flashed across Lauren's mind. When she first saw it she couldn't believe it and didn't want to believe it. She had tracked Deacon down in Afterlife and waited for him to be alone before she walked up and asked him. He told her, in a paragon fashion, that they had no say in the matter and that they weren't going to be working with them for much longer after they attacked the Collectors. It had been a risky plan, a suicide mission, but somehow they had managed to pull it off. And then they'd literally flipped the Illusive Man the bird before they quit.

Just thinking about it made her giggle a little inside - that big smug bastard getting flipped off by not one, but two of the Alliance's best commanders and loosing not only the crew of the Normandy SR-2, but the entire ship itself. She would have paid a million credits just to see the look on his face.

"It looks like the stitches can come out. The bruising will heal up by tomorrow, but you should be able to use your arm completely now." Chakwas grabbed the brace and wrapped it around Lauren's elbow.

"What's the brace for?" She asked.

"To make sure you don't throw the joint out," Chakwas looked up at Lauren. "Aria was rather insistent that I make sure you wore a brace after you fixed it. She mentioned something about your back?"

She cringed. The incident involving her back was not only private, but also embarrassing. "Oh, that. Yeah, I'll wear a brace. Better to be safe than sorry, I suppose."

"Other than that, you're done being under my care." Chakwas tapped the brace. "I have tons of these, so don't worry about giving it back."

"Thanks for everything, doctor." Lauren rubbed at her left wrist, glad that the restrictive bandages were off. "I mean it."

"Just doing my job," Chakwas said with a small nod.

Lauren smiled and walked out of the medical bay, making a beeline for the elevator. With her arm unwrapped and her legs able to walk, she was finally able to work on the abilities that concerned her most.

Her biotics.


	15. Chapter 15

Rules. That's all Lauren remembered from her time in the Alliance. It was a set of suggestions and instructions that had taken up residence in the smallest part of her brain next to Akuze. She never used them, never thought of them, and she sure as hell couldn't recite them to save her life.

However, being on Shepard's ship changed all that.

Every uniform that she saw, every Alliance logo, she was reminded of her role in the Alliance. She had been a pawn like everyone else, obeying orders without a second thought and blindly running into danger without thinking of the consequences. Akuze or the events that came after it hadn't been her first nail in her service's coffin – if anything it had been the rules they had imposed on her.

Biotics were constantly put under more pressure and more scrutiny than normal soldiers because of their abilities. It was like her officers were afraid of what she would do if they turned their backs on her, if they didn't watch her every move. Going to Omega had been a very enlightening experience for her. She had the luxury of completely using her biotics outside what the Alliance allowed. She was free.

And in the nine years that she had been absent, her biotics and combat skills had been honed into a dangerous combination by her demanding job as a mercenary. She had the endurance of an Alliance soldier coupled with the skills of an asari commando, thanks to Aria. Her wife hadn't only given her a high position in her organization and married her - she'd also trained her. But Aria still won every single sparring match. As hard as Lauren tried, she couldn't beat centuries of experience.

_Not that I want to try,_ Lauren thought to herself as she stretched her left arm. _She's not known for being a gracious loser, that's for sure._

She went back to focusing on her fingers as she moved her arm. She'd taken a coffee cup she found on the top of a crate, which was empty, to use for warm-up practice. Now all she had to do was get the eezo nodules in her arm to respond. She stopped moving and went still, staring at the cup. All she had to do was twitch and hope her nervous system understood what the twitch _meant_.

The cup wiggled.

Lauren heard Vega laugh from where he was watching.

"All that focusing and the best you can do is make it _wiggle_?"

She didn't look up at him and instead jerked her whole hand, sending the cup flying in his direction.

"Shit!" Vega leapt back a foot, the cup crashing to the floor in front of him.

The coffee cup didn't break, much to Lauren's surprise.

"They really make those things to last, don't they? Keep making fun of me while I'm practicing and I may just 'volunteer' you to help me." She rubbed at the side of her forehead. "Toss me that cup again. I'm not done with it yet."

Vega snatched the cup and tossed it at her before disappearing into his own work station, mumbling in Spanish.

Lauren thought she caught a few words like 'crazy' and 'bitchy' but didn't want to pursue him. She doubted if Shepard would like it if she flung the bigger marine around like a ragdoll using her biotics. She tossed the cup in the air and caught it.

"I have plans for you cup. Hope you like being shattered into pieces."

* * *

Exhaustion was an enemy of all things, not just people. Sometimes it would let you know when it was coming, but other times it just seemed to come out of nowhere and knock people flat on their asses. The students on the shuttle were basically falling asleep on each other while they were headed for the Normandy. Shepard had tried to get an Alliance cruiser to meet them to take the students into their custody, but there was no ship available to help. She'd decided that they'd take the students and their two teachers to the Citadel on the Normandy.

The shuttle door opened, revealing the inside of the shuttle bay. Deacon and Liara both shuffled out, exhausted by the fight. She really needed to give them a break – Liara had almost exhausted herself just taking down shields so Shepard and Deacon could kill them. Deacon was already tired to begin with.

Shepard looked at Jack. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine," Jack sounded irritated that she would even ask.

Shepard snorted and walked off the shuttle with Jack right behind her. "Good. I'll have Joker head to the Citadel; meanwhile your students can camp out here in the shuttle bay. There's not enough room in the medical bay for all of them."

"Thanks, Shepard." Jack said quietly.

"I should warn you," Shepard looked at her students. "I have an irritable merc on board; I've never known her to be good with kids."

"You still collecting crazies?" Jack asked with a smirk. "Don't worry, I'll warn the kids. Just make sure your merc knows that they're _mine_."

"You sound practically maternal, Jack." Shepard looked at her.

"Are you making fun of me?"

"Would I ever?"

Jack snorted and turned around to look at her students. "I wouldn't put it past you. But I get what you're saying."

"I'll see about getting duffels for your students," Shepard looked around for James, but couldn't see the bigger marine.

"I'll keep them here. Thanks, Shepard. For everything," Jack affectionately punched Shepard's shoulder.

Shepard smiled and walked off for the elevator, but noticed something that made her stop. At first she wasn't sure if she was seeing things, but after a few seconds she realized that she wasn't seeing things.

"What the hell are you doing?" Shepard asked.

Lauren startled, almost losing her balance. She was standing on her hands with her feet up in the air and was surrounded by a biotic glow. Her blonde hair was stuck to her face thanks to the amount of sweat she was producing, and she had a raging headache. "Um...Hi…I'm going through warm up exercises for my biotics."

"You call this a warm up exercise?" Shepard tilted her head so she could see Lauren's face a little easier.

"Yeah, well at this point it's more like a cool down exercise. I've already done my fill of heavy lifting for today." Lauren pushed herself off her hands and landed gently on her knees on the floor. She stood up and turned around to face Shepard. "I decided against redecorating your shuttle bay, but Vega had some weights I could practice with."

Shepard crossed her arms in front of her chest. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got my ass kicked, but that just might be my ego talking." Lauren crossed her arms, imitating the Commander's stance. "Enough about me - how are you feeling? You look exhausted."

"I'm fine."

"Still, I would go take a shower if I were you. You've got sweat lines on your face."

Shepard looked down at her armor. "Good idea. Listen, I've got a bunch of academy students and two instructors that will be hanging out in the shuttle bay until we reach the Citadel. Don't piss off the tattooed instructor, her name's Jack."

Lauren suddenly looked at Shepard suspiciously. She brought a hand up at her head level. "Is she about this tall, a hundred and thirty pounds or so, and a complete ball of criminally insane biotic power with head tattoos?"

The description was dead on. "You know Jack?" Shepard couldn't believe it. Out of all the people that she knew…

"Hell yeah, crazy still owes me a beer," Lauren look amused. "Don't look so _surprised_, Shepard. Mercenaries tend get around. Hell - I even know your turian friend, Vakarian."

"You know Garrus?" Shepard was flabbergasted.

"Yeah, it's a funny story actually…"

Shepard put her hands up. "Don't. I need to go take a shower."

"Have fun. After that, we should talk." Lauren turned away from Shepard and cracked her knuckles.

The spectre understood and nodded. "Sure."


	16. Chapter 16

Omega's history turned out to more interesting than Earth's, in Lauren's opinion. Originally it was a large impenetrable asteroid rich with element zero, cracked in half by a collision with another asteroid. People rushed to the station to begin mining, and pretty quickly the station was over taken by the mercenaries and criminals that had been hired to protect the mines. Over time, the station became an unrecognizable mass of criminals, drugs, weapons, and eezo mining. The only government came from the mercenaries, who were all under the control of Aria T'Loak.

And Omega would still be, if Lauren could get out of the damn mine.

"Why is it," She huffed as she ran across the upper level. "That every fucking time I get cornered somewhere, it's somewhere half-dark and dusty?"

She heard a noise in front of her and dropped to a crouch behind a crate.

"Come out or I'll fucking shoot you!"

Apparently she didn't duck fast enough. "Fuck you!"

She heard a reloading sound and then a 'fuck'. Lauren came out from behind cover, her hands gripped tightly around her pistol. But she lowered it when she got a better look at the person in front of her.

Basically it was a heavily tattooed woman surrounded by an intense biotic blue glow.

"Back off!" The woman yelled at her.

Lauren held her hands up. Obviously she wasn't a mercenary by the way she looked. Lauren doubted that Eclipse mercenaries would be walking around half-naked.

"I'm not going to shoot you!"

"BACK OFF!"

"Are you going to fucking YELL at me or are you going to fucking LISTEN to ME?" Lauren shouted back. "I'm not going to shoot you!" Lauren holstered her pistol. "See? Fucking crazy people…"

The biotic stared at her, but never dissipated the blue glow around her. "Who the** fuck** are you?"

"Someone who's trapped here, same as you. Eclipse has the whole place surrounded." Lauren straightened herself up. "Or it's Cerberus…or the Shadow Broker. Armor all looks the same to me."

"I asked for your fucking name, not your opinion."

"Sapphire."

"What?"

"My name is Sapphire."

"You a merc?"

"No, I'm a fucking _fairy_."

She didn't look amused at Lauren's use of sarcasm.

"I work for T'Loak. I don't kill random people who look like they can kick my ass without even trying."

She smirked. Obviously this conversation was going somewhere.

"What the hell do you go by? Crazy?"

The biotic suddenly looked a little less suspicious of her. But she obviously still didn't trust her. The feeling was somewhat mutual. Lauren didn't trust anyone nowadays – especially Nyreen. Fucking naggy turian…

"Subject Zero." The biotic finally said. "I don't need your help."

Lauren scoffed. "You're trapped in a mine crawling with mercenaries without any more shots on your gun, you look fucking exhausted, and you're saying you don't need help?"

Jack narrowed her eyes at the woman. How did she know she was out of ammo…? And how the hell did she know she was tired? For some odd reason, the woman reminded her just of Shepard, always trying to save people. "What's in it for you?"

"To be fucking honest - I want to get the hell out of here and get a fucking drink," She suddenly shrugged. "And then maybe go see about getting something illegal for me to smoke."

She was definitely not Shepard. Jack grinned. "Now you're speaking my language."

"Good." Lauren looked at the hallway behind her. "How many were chasing you?"

Jack looked over her shoulder. "Enough to make me run."

"We'd better get in the upper levels then."

"How?" Jack threw her arms out in a wide gesture. "They have all the fucking exits on this level sealed!"

"They don't have the ceiling sealed," Lauren's smile was feral. "How good are you with explosions?"

Jack raised an eyebrow back. "What did you have in mind?"

* * *

Alright. She had to admit it; Lauren's plan did actually make some sense up to a point. Blowing up the doors that led into the upper level, and their way out, was a great idea…but there was a snag.

"Explain to me again how we're going to escape unscathed from a fiery explosion?"

"You're a biotic. I'm a biotic."

Jack felt like she got slapped across the face when the realization hit her. "A barrier? Will that even work?"

"Probably not, but it's worth a shot right?" Lauren was hunched over the fire suppression system, a grenade in her hand.

"What are you doing?" Jack asked.

Lauren looked up at her and shifted in her armor. "It's a trick I learned from a friend of mine back when I served. Put a grenade in the fire suppression system with a remote trigger."

"If you do that, won't this whole level burn?" Jack asked.

"Don't worry – if we move fast enough to the upper level we won't get burned to a crisp."

"Getting burned to a crisp doesn't concern me. It's the explosion part that does."

* * *

Her students were exhausted. Jack was sitting closely nearby them as they slept in duffels on the shuttle bay floor. She was watching them mostly because she cared about their well being, which was a big fucking surprise for her, but also because Kahlee Sanders was with Shepard up on the crew deck. Jack had already taken the kiddies up to go eat in the mess hall and brought them back about two hours ago. They were napping now, being quiet for the first time in a few days.

Which was basically heaven for her – she had her thoughts to herself. She wanted to just remain in her spot and stay there for another hour, but she had a feeling that she should remain on her guard. And when she heard the small shuffling noise at the far end of the shuttle bay, she was instantly glad that she was awake and alert.

Jack stood up and looked over the crates that separated her and the students from the rest of the shuttle bay. There was a woman standing in the middle of the shuttle bay, covered in a familiar blue glow.

Wait. Everything about her was familiar. From her bright blonde hair to her black, blue, and white tattoos on her shirtless back. Her name came instantly to Jack's mind, not her merc name, but the actual name that she'd given her after their stunt in the mines.

* * *

Jack ran as fast as her feet would carry her, Lauren right on her heels. When they both finally exhausted themselves and felt like they'd run far enough, they collasped on a stack of crates. Lauren wiped some stray strands of blonde hair from her eyes and tried to slow her breathing down.

"Did we loose them?" She managed to ask.

"I think so," Jack put her hands on her knees.

"I can't believe that worked," Lauren said suddenly.

Jack looked up at her, somewhat alarmed. "Wait a minute - you didn't think that your plan was going to work? After everything you said?!"

"If I told you the truth, would you have helped me?" Lauren deadpanned. "Besides we're both alive aren't we?"

Jack straightened up. "You're fucking crazy."

"As a drug-addled krogan." Lauren replied.

"Why is it that every **fucking time** I have to help someone, they always turn out crazy?"

Lauren slid down to sit on the floor, her legs in a heap in front of her. "Have you considered you're the crazy one, Subject Zero?"

"Shut the hell up Sapphire."

"Lauren."

Jack looked at her. "What?"

"My real name is Lauren."

Jack looked at her skeptically. "I'm Jack."

Lauren smiled and stuck out her hand. "Drinks are on me tonight then, Jack. Help me up?"

"Drinks?" Jack asked skeptically.

"Figured it's the least I should do, all things considered." She wiggled the fingers on her hand.

Jack walked over and helped Lauren up. "I've got a better idea."

"Do tell."

Jack smirked at her. "How about a tattoo, _shockwave_?"

Lauren was game. "Only if you pay for it, _crazy._"

"Deal."

"And after that, I'll see about finding us something to smoke."

Jack grinned at Lauren. This woman definitely knew how to speak her language. "I can't believe you even served in the Alliance, you don't act like a pussy marine. You don't act like Shepard."

"Why do you think I left? No one there knows how to have _fun_. Besides...on Omega...I'm not a soldier. I don't have to do anything."

Jack looked at her and smirked. "Freedom is a wonderful fucking drug, isn't it?"

Lauren smirked back. "You know, you have to be one of the few people that understands me."

"Don't get all sentimental on me you fucking pussy. Let's go get those tattoos and then get wasted."

"Don't call me a pussy, bitch."

"Whore."

"Harlot."

..."Did you really just call me a harlot?"

"It just came out...Let's just go get drunk off our asses..."


	17. Chapter 17

"Shepard?"

Shepard groaned in her shower and thunked her forehead against the steel wall, hot water pouring down her back.

"There is no Shepard in here. Please try again later."

"Yeah, as much as I'd like to believe that Shepard," Joker's voice sounded highly irritated. "You answered."

"What is this about Joker?"

There was a shuffling sound. "Deacon wants to know if you're busy. He said something along the lines of, 'we should talk'?"

Shepard lifted her head and turned the shower off. "Tell him to give me a few minutes and that he should go get Lauren. She's probably busy reminiscing with Jack right now, but she said the same thing. Got that?"

"Got it." There was a click, informing Shepard that he'd turned off the intercom.

* * *

Deacon watched as Jack and Lauren chatted happily to each other. Obviously the two were good friends and Deacon didn't mind waiting for their conversation to be over. As he stood there he couldn't help but think about how similar the two of them were. The only obvious difference being the fact that Lauren actually wore clothing that covered her. As far as he knew.

"Bad image," Deacon rubbed at his eyes. "No, no, no."

"What?" Vega asked from his spot at the armory table. "Am I missing a catfight?" He craned his neck to get a better look around Deacon's back.

"No, I just thought of something that makes me want to stab my eyes out a little." Deacon looked over his shoulder at Vega. "Why do you want a catfight?"

Vega grinned. "Because catfights are _amazing_."

"You're such a pervert." Cortez said from his spot across from him.

Vega looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "I'm a pervert? You said the other day that Deacon's-"

Cortez stomped the bigger marine's foot under the table. "Shut up!" He hissed.

Deacon gave the two of them a skeptical look. "Should I be concerned about the safety of my ass when it comes to skuttlebutt?"

"No, sir."

Vega shook his head and put it down on the armory table.

"Good." Deacon turned and walked away from armory and headed for Lauren. He caught only a tail end of their conversation.

"-You still giving lapdances?" Jack asked.

Lauren looked slightly amused. "Not out in public."

Jack laughed. "You have no shame."

"I'd walk around naked if I could get away with it," Lauren said.

He couldn't tell if she meant that sarcastically or not. "What?"

Lauren spun around. "Oh."

Jack started laughing harder at Lauren's face.

Deacon blinked. "I'm just going to forget you said that. Come on, we're going to go bug Shepard."

"Okay," Lauren said slowly. She looked at Jack and punched her on the shoulder. "I'll see you around, huh crazy?"

"Yeah. See ya, shockwave." Jack turned away and walked off towards her students, who were all watching with mixed expressions of shock, confusion, and glee. "What the hell are all of you looking at?"

Lauren looked at Deacon. "Lead the way, Commander."

He raised an eyebrow at her, but didn't say anything, as he turned around to head for the elevator that would lead up to Shepard's cabin. Lauren just followed him and instantly leaned against the back wall, stuffing her hands inside her pockets. Deacon watched her out of the corner of her eye.

"So...how'd you meet Jack the insufferable?"

"Eh, the usual," Lauren said with a slight shrug. "Explosions mixed with gunfire."

"Ah."

"Mm-hmm."

Deacon looked at the front of his uniform. "Who was doing the shooting?"

"Cerberus."

"I see."

Lauren suddenly reached out with one of her feet and gently hit the side of his right leg.

"What?"

Her face was a mixture of seriousness and concern. Obviously she knew something was eating at him.

"Don't give me that face." He said.

She raised a single eyebrow.

He looked away. "Nothing's wrong with me."

She tapped him with her foot again.

"I'm _fine_."

"Only idiots say they're fine." Lauren pointed out. "_Spill_."

The door opened to reveal the hallway that led to Shepard's cabin. Deacon practically leapt out and made a straight line for Shepard's door. When it opened he walked directly down the couches, where Shepard was sitting and examining her omni-tool. Lauren walked leisurely into the cabin, humming the whole time.

Shepard looked at Deacon with an amused expression. "What she'd do, spook you?"

Deacon opened his mouth to speak but was cut off.

"Nah, I almost got him to say what was bothering him. Seems embarrasing 'cuz he practically _ran _out of that elevator."

"Is this true?" Shepard asked in a teasing tone. "Do you have something delightfully embarrasing hidden from me?"

"No." Deacon said flatly. "I'm just concerned about a few things and I don't want to talk about it with _her_."

"Hey! I am nothing but a gentle human being." Lauren retorted.

Both Shepard and Deacon gave her matching looks. She laughed.

"It's been a long time hasn't it?" Lauren asked with a lopsided grin on her face.

Shepard nodded from her spot and seemed to relax into the couch. "Way too long."

Deacon nodded in agreement, glad that their concern over him was gone. "Yeah it has been. How's life going?"

Lauren shrugged. "Not that bad. Buried someone important, married someone, and then I was thrown out of the station I call home. How about the two of you?"

Shepard did the same shrug. "Fighting another war. Have to recruit my own allies again, have to put up with everyone's shit and fix everyone's problems. The usual."

Lauren looked at Deacon. "And what about you?"

"Same as always. Fixing stuff and attempting to keep myself from killing everyone when I'm pissed off."

Shepard looked at him wearily. "Kenneth?"

Deacon nodded. "Kenneth."

Lauren took a seat in one of the chairs. "So basically we're all doing fine and we all have our own problems to figure out. Which reminds me...who's fucking idea was it to call my dad?"

"So the two of you talked?" Shepard looked pleased with herself.

"I'm guessing because of the smug look on your face that you're behind it," Lauren sighed. "Yes we talked."

"And?"

Lauren raised an eyebrow. "And what?"

"Did he mention the job offer?" Shepard asked.

"Oh that," Lauren shifted. "Yeah, he mentioned it."

"And?"

"And what, Shepard?" She narrowed her eyes at her. "If you want an answer, it's 'no'."

"What? Why?"

Lauren looked somewhat annoyed. "Because I'm already fighting a war, Aeron. I can't just leave the fight for Omega - not when we're so close to taking it back. Besides, I can't just accept a job offer without asking my wife about it."

Shepard looked somewhat deflated. "That's right - You have to ask first, don't you?"

"No," Lauren put her hands in her lap and leaned back. "I'm a mercenary and an adult. I** can** make my own decisions. I _have_ to see what her opinion is before I run off and do things."

Deacon looked mildly impressed. "Your relationship actually works that way?"

"Of course," Lauren relaxed into her chair. "The two of us are very honest to each other when it comes to things like this. We're both smart enough to know that hiding our feelings and concerns from each other isn't a good thing. That still doesn't mean we don't argue about things every now and then. We're both not perfect after all."

"What do you guys argue about, if you don't me asking?" Shepard said, attempting to change the subject.

"Nothing important. Work, family things, but the favorite right now is about how I wear my hair." Lauren tugged a strand by her ear.

"You argue about your hair?"

"She likes it when I wear it down. I like to wear it up. It's a very sore subject. We finally came to the arrangement that in public I'd wear it up and in private I'd wear it down."

"You compromise on things like that?"

Lauren gave Deacon a surprised look. "I'm a mercenary, Josiah. All I do is compromise."

"I thought you blew stuff up?" Shepard asked.

"Well, that too. And I do have the occasional situation where I have to shoot someone or throw them into a wall. But those aren't as fun to talk about."

"Speaking of that," Shepard crossed her arms in front of her chest. "How'd you manage to get cornered by Cerberus?"

The blonde shook her head. "To be honest, I should have seen it coming but I was being a little too confident. They backed me in a corner and threw people at me in a single wave. I managed to kill about half of them, but then one of them threw some sort of powder in my face. Knocked me out."

"Told you she was drugged." Deacon said to Shepard. "Pay up."

"I never said I'd take that bet."

"You _bet_ on me?"

"No." Shepard said quickly. "Anyways, have you spoken to Aria at all? Because I can have Traynor-"

"Already have," Lauren said with a sigh. "She's going to yell at me when I get back, but she seemed relieved to know I was okay. But she also seemed a bit tired and a little stressed, so there may not be that much yelling if I play my cards right."

"Please...don't elaborate on that."

* * *

_It's been a while, I know. More to come later on this week._


	18. Chapter 18

It was hard to beat the content and relaxed feeling that Shepard had while she listened to Deacon and Lauren talk to each other. She'd given up on trying to get a word in their conversation long ago and instead chose to watch the two of them through heavy sleep-liden eyes. Insomnia was a common problem with her, especially because of the fucked up dreams she kept having with the Cipher still in the back of her head. Some voice in her head reminded her that it was important for her to have and that it'd helped her defeat Saren, but another part of her just wanted it to go away and never come back. But she knew it wouldn't go away and she couldn't get rid of it. All she had to do was suffer through the nightmares in silence with her head held high.

_Fucking morale._ She mumbled in her head.

She heard a yawn and snapped back to reality to catch her longtime friend yawning. She grinned at his face, laughing silently in her head about how ridiculous he looked when he yawned. She must have had a grin on her face because Lauren grinned at her before looking at Josiah.

"Sleepy?" She asked.

He shrugged. "It's hard to sleep when I have to keep up with the damn updates Garrus is making to the fucking main gun. I like the big guy and everything, but I don't think the motherfucker sleeps at _all_."

"Probably not," Shepard said thoughtfully. "Or maybe he does and he calibrates everything while he's sleep walking."

Deacon snorted.

"Actually," Lauren hummed from her spot. "Turians don't sleep walk. They do make the fucking weirdest noises when they're sleeping. And when they're tired too."

Deacon and Shepard both looked at each other.

"What do the noises sound like?"

Lauren scrunched up her face in thought. "Kind of like chirping, I guess."

Shepard's eyes went wide. "That. Explains. **Everything**."

Deacon started laughing and buried his head in his hands. "Oh my god. I have to tell Joker."

"I swear to the goddess, one of these days I will fucking get used to talking to the both of you."

Shepard laughed at the sight of Lauren looking completely confused on the couch. "Sorry, it's just that we've been torturing Garrus for years about a chirping noise he made once back when we were fighting Saren. It's been kind of a running joke."

"A fucking funny joke," Deacon added as he tried to stop laughing.

"I fail to find it funny. Then again I'm not known to have a sense of humor on Omega, so what the fuck do I know?" The mercenary covered her face with her hands.

Shepard leaned forward and rested her arms on her knees so she could see Lauren better. "Who exactly are you on Omega? Because I've heard a lot of different names in the past few years and I just kind of stopped paying attention after a while."

Lauren peeked through her fingers at Shepard. "Sometimes I forget exactly how thick your skull is when it comes to memory retention."

Shepard shrugged. "I remember the important bits."

"Only when I remind you of them."

"Shut up."

Lauren interupted the arguement before it could start. "Who am I? Hmm...it's a good question."

"Please don't go philosophical on us. We can't handle that."

The smaller woman snorted. "Of course you can't. If you must know, I go as Sapphire when I'm working as a mercenary, and then as Lauren T'Loak when I'm amongst friends or with Aria."

Deacon raised and eyebrow. "Sapphire? Where the hell did that come from?"

"It's about her eyes, dumbass." Shepard smiled. "Isn't it?"

Lauren nodded and made a face. "Aria called me 'the sapphire of Omega' once. The name just fucking stuck, but she started it. I don't really like it, but it suits me rather well apparently."

"You just go with it?" Deacon asked.

"It's better than 'blue' as a nickname. And everyone likes calling me it...so why the hell not? Besides, looks who's talking about just going with nicknames. I've been calling you the engineer boy for fucking over a decade dumbass."

Deacon scowled. "We're not that old, are we?"

"Well let's see," Lauren tilted her head back. "I was born in 2153...so I'm 33. You're a year older so you're about 34. Shepard's a year younger so she's 32."

"30," Shepard replied dryly. "The two years on the surgical table don't count."

"Wait...what table?" Lauren was severely confused. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Shepard looked at Deacon. "You never told her?" She asked in shock.

"I thought you told her!" Deacon hastily replied back.

The subject of Shepard's death was a quietly talked about subject. For the first few months after her 'resurection' she did nothing but try to cope with the reality that she had in fact died. It had taken months for Deacon to come to terms with the idea that she had, in fact, died. Who knows how Lauren would react.

"How do we even-?"

Deacon shrugged. "You usually have the plans-"

"Tell me WHAT?" Lauren interrupted. She hated when she was left out of a conversation or purposely not told an important piece of information. "Somebody explain to me what the fuck is going on here. Why are you saying you're 30?"

She watched as Shepard's face went from being in a state of shock to an expression she'd never seen before. Her face was dark. Morbidly dark. Lauren's stomach twinged.

No one spoke.

"Remember the attack on the Normandy?" Shepard asked quietly. "After the battle of the Citadel."

"Yeah..." Lauren didn't like where this was going.

Shepard looked at Deacon. "Can you-?"

Deacon nodded and Shepard stood up, hastily retreating to her desk, the dark shadow still on her face. Lauren looked at Deacon with alarm. He put up a hand to keep her from talking and continued where Shepard left off.

"When the Normandy was attacked, there were casualties...Shepard was among them."

Lauren's face drained off whatever blood was there.

"Her body was found and after a few trade-offs, she ended up in Cerberus's hands. They spent two years and over a billion credits to bring Shepard back to life."

Her face went paler.

Shepard emerged from the upper level of her cabin with something in her hands. "You know how I said that I wouldn't understand how you felt about cybernetics until you had some?"

Lauren nodded slightly, still pale and completely silent. She remembered the conversation.

"I know now." Shepard walked over and handed Lauren what she had in her hands. It was the frame with her dogtags in it, which Liara had given back to her after their fight with the Shadow Broker.

Lauren hesitated before she took the frame. They watched her while she examined the object in her hands. The frame looked too big in her hands and her eyes examined it slowly and carefully. Shepard was afraid for a second that she wouldn't understand. But as she kept watching her she had a small thought...if anyone could possibly begin to understand...it would probably be her. Deacon attempted to understand and understood how it felt, but he had never been dead or dying before. Lauren had been...much closer to death during Akuze than Shepard had ever seen. Then anyone had ever seen. Even the Alliance doctors had said, in complete shock, that she was the most severely wounded person they ever seen before.

Lauren's head tilted up and she looked at Shepard. Her face was blank.

"Spaced?"

Shepard nodded.

Lauren held out the frame to her and Shepard took it back. The mercenary didn't say a word but leaned back into the couch. She brought a hand up to her forehead and rubbed at it, giving Shepard a questioning expression. "Do you remember it?"

The memories weren't the ones keeping her up at night, but they had at one point back when she was chasing the Collectors. "I remember."

"Good." Lauren stood up hastily from the couch.

"Where are you going?" Shepard asked, standing up herself. She hadn't expected Lauren to leave. If anything she expected her to ask a ton of questions followed by a serious talk about her affliations with Cerberus.

"Medical. I need some sleep."

Shepard just watched her walk to the door to her cabin and disappear from her sight. The darker haired woman looked at Deacon.

"Was that-?"

"No."

Shepard bit her lip. "Should we-?"

"No." Deacon said firmly.

"Are you-?"

"Aeron," The brunette said. "For what we just told her, that's pretty normal compared to everyone else."

The Spectre looked at her door. "That's what concerns me. At least Garrus asked questions."


	19. Chapter 19

Shepard opened her eyes and blinked, suddenly realizing how heavy her eyelids were and how her limbs were like lead weights. She looked around before realizing that she was asleep in her bed, the blankets tucked in around her, and the lights in her cabin dimmed. She didn't remember going to sleep.

_Deacon._ Shepard thought finally. He must have put her to sleep and then left. She lowered her head back down on her pillow and sighed. At least her bed was still comfortable, which was a relief for her sore and aching joints.

Her dreams came back to her in a weird mix. It had been something about training, but she couldn't really remember.

Then again, her dreams never really made sense anyways.

She closed her eyes, expecting the marine half of her brain to take over and instantly put her to sleep, but it didn't. Something at the back of her mind was bugging her. Shepard sighed and looked at the alarm clock next to her bed.

_Four hours until we reach the Citadel. _Shepard sighed and rolled lazily out of her bed, searching for her shoes. Her fingers brushed them and she pulled them on hastily without tying them. There were reports that she could do. Things that she could read and requisition forms that needed to be filled out. Shepard didn't need to sleep. She needed to fucking fix the galaxy and save everyone's lives.

Again.

Her eyes caught a glimmer of something mettalic on her nightstand and she blinked. Without thinking she picked up the picture frame and looked at the three of them in the picture. She'd looked at it a million times since it'd been taken, her 'good luck charm' she'd called it. A sudden memory came to her mind, accompanied by the chitter of the cipher.

* * *

_Shepard stared back at Hackett from across the table, her eyes narrowed. The blonde stared back, her blue eyes full of triumph. This only agitated Shepard further, which filled all the onlookers with a form of childhood glee. _

_"Check." The words rolled off Hackett's tongue, filled with a confidence that Shepard could only dream of having. "Your move, Shepard."_

_The way she said her last name bothered Shepard to no end. She looked down at the chess set in front of her. There weren't many options and she knew that each one of them resulted in instantaneous defeat or another battle of cat and mouse. Hackett was going to wear her down and defeat her - no matter how many moves it took. Her only options were admitting defeat and surrendering or clinging to the hope that she could somehow survive the woman's onslaught. _

_Shepard moved her king in the one direction that she thought would force a few more rounds of cat and mouse. "And now it's yours, Hackett."_

_Hackett didn't waste any time. She moved a pawn out of nowhere and to Shepard's horror - blocked her king in. The hush in the room was practically funeral._

_"Checkmate." The blonde said with that familiar smirk on her lips. "You lose Shepard."_

_The room exploded into mixed noises of cheers and groans. Hackett was a vicious chess player. The woman was a damn savant when it came to strategic thinking. Shepard knew it came with the territory of being a biotic - you always had to be four steps ahead of your opponent or you'd end up dead. _

_"Well, Hackett," Shepard leaned back in her seat. "It seems you win again."_

_"I would have won faster if you had just surrendered earlier." Hackett's reply was dry and emotionless. Her favorite voice. "Learn to admit defeat next time and you might stand a chance. But it was a rather good game."_

_Shepard looked up at the other woman. They'd only known each other since the accident involving the climbing tower, but so far Shepard liked the biotic. "It was two hours well wasted." Shepard replied and held out her hand. _

_Hackett shook it and stood up. "That it was. Lunch?"_

_Shepard smirked up at the blonde. "Sounds like a plan."_

* * *

_Deacon stared down at Shepard, his brow furrowed and his hair sticking out in five different directions. It was four in the morning civilian time and the taller man was not amused at being woken up by the smaller woman. _

_"What?" He asked gruffly._

_Shepard held up the chess set in her hands. "Help."_

_He raised an eyebrow._

_"I asked for a rematch."_

_"On the last day before break?"_

_"Break? What are we in highschool?" Shepard shook the chess set a little. "Come on, you're the only one who scores higher than her in strategy."_

_"Aeron I'm a shitty chess player - everyone knows that."_

_"Just...Help me understand her brain."_

_"I'm pretty sure it's just a bunch of pretty lights and the random thoughts like, blow that up or throw that!"_

_"Josiah-"_

_Deacon sighed. "Fine. Just...hold on."_

_He moved away from the door and inside the bunk room. Shepard waited until he came outside, this time wearing a proper shirt and boots. _

_"Alright, let's get this over with."_

* * *

Two decks below her, curled up in the fetal position on a medical cot, was Lauren. The blonde found herself unable to sleep. Mostly because of what she feared would come up in her dreams if she did and because her brain seemed to be a storm of thoughts when she closed her eyes. Most of them were about Shepard and the information bomb she'd attempted to drop lightly on her. The other part might have been about how badly she wished she were curled up with Aria rather than being stuck on a ship.

She hated ships. The cramped closeness and the lack of space really bugged her for some reason. Being cramped and stuck with an Alliance crew made it worse. Being stuck with Shepard and Deacon made it even more worse. It reminded her of her service time. It reminded her of Akuze.

When her mind drifted to the job offer that her father had given her, she gave up on trying to sleep and rubbed at her eyes. She sat up and hugged her knees, looking out at the mess hall through the long window.

Her stomach rumbled and she sighed and got up. There was only a few hours until she could get herself back to Aria.

Only a few hours until she could put some real distance between her this whole experience.

Only a few hours.

"Are you alright?"

_Fucking hell - how do people fucking live in this tiny ass metal coffin?!_

Lauren opened one eye. "Yes?" She asked as she searched for the source of the voice.

"Commander Shepard asked me to look into your whereabouts on the Normandy." The voice sounded a bit disembodied and somewhat mettalic.

There was no one in her sight. "Uh, where are you? Better yet, who the fuck are you?"

"My name is EDI," the voice replied. "I'm currently speaking to you using the intercom system. We are ahead of schedule and are going to arrive at the Citadel in less than an hour and a half."

"Okay..." Lauren narrowed her eyes and glanced around again. "Thank you...Eedee?"

"EDI. E-D-I."

The blonde scrunched her face up. "Are you a VI?"

"AI." EDI replied.

"An AI?!" Lauren flailed on the cot. "Are you fucking serious - oh I'm so off this metal coffin the moment we dock!"

* * *

_Things are going to slow down and I'll continue posting every Sunday night/Monday Morning._


	20. Chapter 20

Joker had many things to be proud of. All of them involved flying the Normandy in some way, but he was most proud of his ability to fly the Normandy in crowded airspace. He'd just finished docking the Normandy when he heard Shepard's telltale footsteps behind him. The woman thunked her way around, as did all the marines, but there was something special about the way she did it that told him it was her and not James.

A hand settled on the side of his chair and he looked up.

"Heya Commander. Can I do anything for you?" Joker asked.

Shepard nodded. "Relay to the crew - six hour shore leave. No drinking, no exceptions."

Joker mock saluted. "Aye, aye."

The spectre rolled her eyes and turned her head when she heard more footsteps. Lauren was walking up the CIC with Deacon right on her heels. The blonde looked slightly disheveled with stray strands of her hair in front of her face.

"Well Shepard, this was a fun little excursion, wasn't it?" She said as she approached.

Shepard could see Kahlee Sanders and Jack walking up the CIC with the students right behind them. She looked back at Lauren. "It was fun. Are you headed out?"

Lauren nodded and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Yeah, no offense, but I can't spend another minute in this place. I'll be at Purgatory if you need to talk to me."

"Still no thoughts on our offer?"

"What offer-?" Joker mumbled.

EDI spoke up. "Shepard is referring to the offer to join the Normandy's crew, Jeff."

Lauren's eyes narrowed in EDI's direction. Shepard noticed the mistrust in her eyes.

"EDI is correct," The spectre said slowly. "She's the resident AI on the ship."

Lauren looked at Shepard and uncrossed her arms. "Whatever you say. I should head out now, Aria's probably outside."

Deacon did a double-take. "She's here to pick you up?"

"More like she's here to make sure I'm in one piece," Lauren turned on her heel and headed for the airlock. "And I'm only guessing, considering that I've only had one actual communication with the woman and I'm sure she's been watching the dock manifests for days."

"Really?"

"Wouldn't put it past her. She's very resourceful, Shepard. It's on the list of things I liked so much about her before I married her. Now it just bugs the ever living shit out of me." Lauren sniffed. "That and the amount of tea that always seems to clutter up the kitchen when I go to clean it."

"Aria didn't strike me as a tea drinker," Deacon said as he walked in the airlock behind Shepard and Lauren.

"She likes to surprise people."

Shepard knew that tone. "You married someone who likes to surprise people?"

Lauren nodded. "Regretfully. But to the point that's itching at my brain, I'll talk to her about the offer, but don't expect anything. Like I said, my hands are tied until Omega is safely under our control again."

"What if you can't take Omega back?" Deacon asked.

"There is no can't. We **will** take Omega back."

Shepard was taken back the confidence in her voice. "How do you know?"

"I don't," Lauren looked at Shepard, a calm expression on her face. "I made a promise, Shepard. I'm going to help her take back Omega and attempt not to die in the process."

"I thought you were a mercenary," Shepard said coolly. "Not a soldier."

The other woman's mouth twitched. "Soldiers keep promises because they have to. Mercenaries keep the promises they like. Big difference."

When the airlock opened, Lauren practically ran out out, her hands stuff in her pockets. Shepard followed immediately, with Deacon falling into step next to her. Sure enough, Aria was standing in the middle of the dock alone, her hands loose at her sides. She was wearing something that Shepard was wholly surprised at, until the realization hit her that the asari was standing alone.

And in that moment, both Shepard and Deacon saw a rare breakdown of Aria's outer shell.

The asari walked forward and lifted her hands up, only to be pulled into a tight embrace by Lauren. The two basically melted into each others arms, their eyes closed and mixed expressions of relief and happiness.

There wasn't any kissing.

It was just an embrace - nothing more than a hug.

But it was the sight of the two of them that completely pulled at Shepard's own heart. Something about it made her smile.

The two pulled away, but not really, and gently pressed their foreheads together. They were talking quietly, almost whispering, their eyes still closed. After a minute, they both opened their eyes. Aria looked in Shepard's direction and gave her a grateful smile before she turned away to lead Lauren out of the docks, and towards what Shepard assumed was in the direction of their temporary home.

"Man," Deacon said quietly. "I wish we'd gotten that on a holo."

Shepard looked at him, that smile still on her own face. "Come on you big gay guerilla. Let's go bug Garrus."

Deacon snorted at the word gay and nudged his head in the direction of the couple that had just vanished. "If I'm the gay guerilla, what do we call her?"

"I honestly don't know."

"Well we can't call her Commander or Hackett anymore, that's for sure."

"Yeah, we really can't can we?" Shepard stuck her hands in the pockets in her own uniform.

"I call her shockwave," Jack said from next to them. "But everyone else seems to call her Sapphire."

Shepard looked at Jack. "You on your way out?"

The biotic nodded. "Have to make sure my kids get to their posts. Sanders wanted to me to come up and say thank you or something."

Shepard raised an eyebrow at her.

"Shit, Shepard. Don't do that." The biotic gently punched her arm. "Be safe, huh girl scout? You've still got a universe to save."


	21. Chapter 21

There was something about how a bed felt to someone whose entire body felt like it was falling apart. She didn't know what it was, all she knew was that her body was now molded against the mattress and that she wouldn't be moving anytime soon. Her head was comfortably resting in a warm lap and fingers gently massaged at her scalp and hair.

It was her definition of the word paradise.

The fingers stopped for a moment, making Lauren open her eyes. A pair of blue ones stared down at her with a level of concern she'd only seen once before.

"I'm fine." Lauren insisted again, for what seemed like the millionth time since they'd gotten home. "My body has just been moving for a long time and I just need a good nap. And a shower. And food."

"That's not what I was going to say." Aria said, tossing the datapad she'd been reading on the far side of the bed.

"This is about the whole...running off and almost dying thing isn't it?"

Aria looked down at her wife, grateful that she'd found someone who could at least follow her train of thought. "Yes."

Lauren looked strained. "It was entirely my fault and it will never happen again."

"You promise?" Aria put a hand on the side of her face.

"_Prometo_." The human nodded. "I promise."

Aria reached up and swept a few strands of hair off Lauren's face. "Good."

Lauren closed her eyes again and took a deep breath, relaxing again into the mattress. She felt Aria relax and opened one eye to get a good look at her.

Lauren had never seen her look so tired before. The asari had to have been fighting off insomnia while she was away, Lauren was one of the reasons she actually fell asleep anymore.

"You look tired."

"Exhausted and somewhat dead inside is a better description."

"Have you slept at all since I've been gone?"

"No."

"Nightmares?"

..."Only a few..."

"Aria-"

"Don't start with me about it. I'll sleep eventually."

They went back to sitting in silence, Lauren abandoning the subject, noticing the strain in Aria's voice. An idea popped into her head and she smirked to herself. Aria went back to writing on her datapad, only to be interupted when Lauren sat up.

"I'm going to take a shower," Lauren said matter-of-factly. "And you are going to join me." She patted the asari's knee.

Aria lowered her datapad by an inch. "Excuse me?"

"We both know that your hearing is not that bad." Lauren walked into the bathroom and instantly shed off her borrowed shirt. "I've been stuck on Shepard's ship since I was injured and I really need to take a shower."

Aria lowered her datapad into her lap. "Where is the next station to board your train of thought?"

Lauren ignored her. "You haven't slept and I can tell you haven't scrubbed your scalp in a few days - the skin is all flaked."

Aria brought a hand up to touch her scalp crests. The skin was rough and flaked as she ran her hand over it. She scolwed, trying to remember the last time she'd actually taken a scrub brush to the top of her head.

"So you either join me in the shower or deal with the horrifying fact that you're not clean."

Aria sighed and set her datapad down, saving its contents, and walked towards the bathroom. She opened the door and looked inside, unsurprised to see Lauren's clothes littered on the floor, and the room filling with steam. The human liked her showers hot, which took Aria some time to get used to.

The bathroom in their temporary home was nothing like the one that they'd abandoned on Omega - the one that Aria had basically built. This one was smaller and much more compact than the other, but Aria had only actually ever noticed it in their bathroom. There was a sink and toliet against one wall, and a shower against the other. To make up for the small space, the shower was seperated from the rest of the bathroom by a small wall, which had shelves on it facing the rest of the bathroom.

A hand appeared from behind the wall holding a scrub brush that was covered in soap suds. "While the water is still warm, T'Loak."

Aria sighed and stripped out of her clothes and walked around the partition, to find Lauren standing under the hot spray of water. The asari cringed at the sight of Lauren's leg, which was sporting some nasty looking bruises in various stages of healing.

"They don't hurt as much as they ache." Lauren said, waving the scrub brush slightly at Aria in the small space. "Come here."

She obeyed, putting her head under the hot stream of water so Lauren could scrub at it. They shared showers often back on Omega and rather then take turns under the shower head, they'd both learned how to help each other bathe. Aria had learned how to painstakingly wash human hair, which she secretly enjoyed somewhat, and Lauren had learned how to scrub at the sensitive skin on Aria's head.

The brush felt rough, but nice to Aria's skin. Lauren was much more gentle than Aria would be at the task, but she still managed to come out clean in the same amount of time, so she didn't complain.

"Tell me what I've missed." Lauren said from behind her as she scrubbed at the asari's purple-blue skin.

"Hmm. Nothing important, really." Aria hummed. "Pass me the soap."

Lauren's pale hand held out the blue bar of soap that Aria used. "Any improvement in our project?"

"No." Aria took the soap. "There are some things that I'm waiting for, like a response from the fleet, but it's better than nothing I suppose."

Lauren lowered the brush from Aria's head and to her back. "Great. Turn."

Aria turned around, attempting to manuever in the small space without elbowing Lauren as she did so. Lauren pressed her back against the wall of the shower and snatched the soap from Aria's hands, replacing it with the scrub brush.

"So tell me," Aria asked as she watched Lauren furiously scrub at herself with the soap. "About this job offer."

"Basically it's a reinstatement." Lauren put the soap back on the wall of the shower. "The Alliance is attempting to gather what allies and assets they have left, with Shepard as their fearless leader."

"You don't sound worried."

"It's Shepard," Lauren ducked her head under the shower head again. "The woman's an unstoppable force of nature."

"Point," Aria started scrubbing at her shoulders with the scrub brush. "I was thinking about asking Shepard to help with the assault."

Lauren stared at her wife with a shocked expression on her face. "Please tell me you're joking."

"No." Aria lowered the scrub brush. "Shepard can help even the numbers against Cerberus and she has her own crew-"

"Her crew is a motly bunch of Alliance idealists that all have the same underlying problem - they believe that she brings out the best of people and can make anyone do the right thing." Lauren raised an eyebrow. "Do you honestly think that they'll let Shepard be talked into killing Petrovsky?"

To be honest, Aria hadn't really thought of that. She'd only thought of the numbers, of the facade that she had to put on when she retook Omega. Petrovsky would make mistakes if he knew Shepard was on Aria's side - mistakes that could potentially end his occupation of Omega.

Aria knew that Lauren could talk Shepard into killing Petrovsky and that Shepard would probably let them do it without caring - but if her crew found out or talked to her about it - she could be easily swayed from letting them kill him in order to keep up morale.

"Fuck - I hate it when you're right." Aria sighed.

"Yeah, that one time out of ten when I'm right." Lauren smirked and pressed a kiss to Aria's cheek.

Aria snorted. "More like one out of twenty."

"Ow, my pride." Lauren put a hand up to her heart and made a pained face.

Aria chuckled. "Anyone ever tell you that you're a complete dork?"

"Eh, once or twice." The blonde shrugged. "But they said it in English."

Aria snaked an arm around Lauren's waist and pulled her close. "Only in English? Tsk. We have to fix that."

Lauren snorted. "What are you going to do? Call me 'dork' in asari the whole time we're having sex?"

"Are you complaining?"

"No, goddess, no. Please do continue."


	22. Chapter 22

Shepard walked to her inbox terminal with a cup of coffee in her hands. So far the entirety of the crew had filtered off to enjoy a few hours of relaxation before they got underway to do some more side missions on their way to the diplomatic meeting on Sur'Kesh.

She turned on the terminal and scrolled through her messages, finding one labeled 'urgent'. She clicked it without really thinking - most of her messages were marked urgent nowadays. When she noticed the sender, she stopped.

Lauren T'Loak.

Shepard checked the time on her terminal and frowned. She'd only dropped off Lauren about four hours ago. What could she possibly need now? Lauren had left with what she'd been brought on board with - which was basically nothing. The armor she was wearing was destroyed by the Cerberus agents who'd been holding her.

Shepard opened the message and read it quickly.

_Shepard, I need to talk to you ASAP about Aria's pet project. Come to Purgatory._

Shepard leaned back and ran her empty hand through her hair. The pet project was obviously Omega.

"Well, why not?" Shepard muttered.

She turned on her omni-tool and sent a message to Garrus and Deacon, requesting their presence at the airlock in five minutes.

And five minutes later all three of them were standing in the airlock, waiting patiently for the decontaminating procedure to be over with so they could exit.

"So where are we going?" Deacon asked.

"Purgatory."

Garrus groaned. "Spirits, no."

Shepard shot the turian a look. "What?"

Both Garrus and Deacon made matching pained expressions.

"We're not going dancing again, are we?" Garrus asked.

Shepard narrowed her eyes. "Are you making fun of the way I dance, Vakarian?"

"No, I'm trying to see if I should warn the club again."

"While you're at it, you should try to see if there's someone there who actually has a sense of humor." Shepard turned to face the door. "We're going to go see Lauren about Omega."

The turian went silent while Deacon made a face.

"Omega?"

"Apparently there's been a development." Shepard said dully.

The door opened and Shepard basically bolted out, not wanting to be caught in the doors or the decontamination procedure again. And she thought elevators were bad.

"So we're going to go see Lauren? Shouldn't she be resting or something?"

"No rest for the wicked." Garrus said bluntly.

Deacon smirked. "I thought you hated music?"

"Only your kind of music," Garrus replied dryly, twitching his mandibles. "That song will forever be stuck in my head after you played it while Shepard crashed the mako."

"I did NOT crash it."

"You do realize that I spent every single day fixing the dents and pulling shrapnel out of that damn thing while we chased Saren?" Garrus prodded Shepard's shoulder. "You crashed it and you know it."

"On the report, the geth did it."

"I was in the backseat."

"The geth did it."

Garrus sighed. "You just can't change her mind, can you?"

"Nope." Deacon sighed. "Trust me, I've tried."

"Tried and failed." Shepard said as she walked into the elevator that she knew would take her straight to the Presidium.

The boys filed in after her, taking up most of the room in the elevator.

"Why the hell do the two of you always take up like sixty percent of the elevator?" Shepard asked miserably. "I never have these problems when I used to take Liara and Tali out."

Garrus and Deacon exchanged looks. The two of them were the same height, give or take an inch, but they'd never really noticed.

"Well," Deacon reached out and put a hand on Shepard's head. "You're smaller than us. And since Liara and Tali are smaller than you...You obviously don't take up that much space."

"Hell...we probably take up more space than the three of you combined." Garrus added.

Shepard frowned. "Huh."

"Hey, think of it this way, at least you're not as short as Lauren." Deacon put his hand up to his shoulder, to show how short the blonde was. "I mean, I have to look down to see her, so she's not that threatening. At least you're at eye-level."

Shepard shook with silent laughter. "I never thought of it that way."

"She's taller and much scarier in heels." Garrus said as he examined a talon.

Shepard looked questionably at Garrus. "High heels?"

"That's what you call the shoes with the platform stick thingies on the back heel, right?" The turian asked, looking up from his talon.

Shepard nodded.

"Then yes, high heels." He went back to his talon. "She's at least this tall," He brought a talon up to about Shepard's eye-level. "When she's posturing."

"She _postures_?"

"When you piss her off, yeah. She learned it from Aria. That or Aria learned it from her." Garrus look thoughtful. "I never really asked, I just kind of retreated from the asari's lair at that point."

"When was this?"

"During my two year stint as Archangel."

"Huh," Shepard looked at Deacon. "Guess there's more we don't know."

"There's probably a lot more," Deacon said as the elevator door opened. "Hell, there's probably a file for her at C-Sec. We should go ask for it."

"Why ask when you can have the shadow broker get it for you?" Shepard said as she walked out, heading for the stairs that would take her to Purgatory.

Shepard could hear the club's music long before they even reached the doors. She had no idea how some people could stand the noise, but this was coming from a woman who actually enjoyed the sound of gunfire and explosions. The trio walked inside and veered off to the right when they got inside the club, ignoring most of the throngs of people that lingered about.

They all noticed Lauren immediately sitting on the VIP couch. She was wearing a black-ish top with long sleeves that dipped down at her cleavage, and light purple lining around the high collar. Her blonde hair was up in a tight braid and her blue eyes were focused on a datapad in her lap. If anything, she looked a lot more comfortable than she did when she stepped off the Normandy. Her shoulders were relaxed and she had a glass of something blue in her left hand.

"Shepard." She said coolly, not looking up from her datapad as Shepard approached. "Take a seat."

Shepard and Deacon exchanged glances before they sat down, Shepard taking a spot on the long couch closer to the blonde.

"Where's Aria?" Deacon asked.

Lauren flicked her eyes up in the direction, of what appeared to be a bodyguard, and flicked her head towards the bar. "Get lost."

The batarian obeyed, leaving the immediate area without any hesitation.

"She's occupied at the moment. Hopefully she'll be sending me a ping here soon to where she wants to meet us." Lauren set the datapad down in her lap. "But there's been an interesting development."

"Do tell." Shepard said as she leaned forward.

Lauren smirked. "It seems that her fleet has managed to find a rather...crippled Ceberus station. One with ships that we can use to our advantage on the assault."

"Is that why we're here? To help capture a ship?" Garrus asked.

"No."

"Then why are we here?" Deacon asked.

Lauren swirled the ice in her drink. "I can't talk about it much...too many ears and eyes...but we have an offer of our own for Shepard. And Shepard alone." She looked at Garrus and Deacon. "The two of you will have to stay here while we go to the meeting with Aria."

"What? Why?"

"Call it professional courtesy, Aeron." The blonde said. "That and...well...I can't risk anyone here over hearing our plans. Cerberus's assassins may not be coming anymore, but that doesn't mean there aren't any sleeper agents around. Aria and I can't risk the exposure. Not when we're so close."

"That doesn't explain why Garrus and Deacon can't come."

"Simple. There's not enough room."


	23. Chapter 23

It had been too long since Shepard had seen Lauren act like a true professional. The last time had been when they both served on teh same firesquad and Lauren had come to command it - a victory against raiders on a far out-of-the-way colony. Shepard could see it then and as they trained - the hard, cold look in her blue eyes, the loose shoulders, and the straight posture. It basically screamed "murder". That and paired with the quick way she walked and the extra few inches in height from her heels, and it was no wonder why her subordinates followed her every command without hesitation.

It wasn't the way Shepard preferred to work, really. She liked to gain everyone's trust, show that they could depend on her. She knew that Lauren had the same mentality, but only with her closest subordinates. Shepard could see it on the turian's, Derimus, face when she spoke to him. Subtle signs of obesience mixed with genuine trust. She had secured his loyalty somehow - Shepard guessed that it was through blood and violence - but he was definately her subordinate.

And by proxy, that made him Aria's as well.

Shepard looked at Bray, who was standing near the entrance to the dock that Lauren had led her to. The batarian seemed alert and was watching the hallway that they'd walked down.

"She's inside." He said quietly in Lauren's direction.

The blonde nodded and walked inside. Shepard followed and walked through a doorway - which beeped as she passed through it. Checkpoint. It must be making sure that Shepard is who she says and that she'd unarmed.

"Where's Aria?" Shepard asked.

As if to answer her question, a black skycar lifted seemingly out of nowhere. The door opened and Shepard could see Aria sitting in the backseat.

"Shepard." The asari said.

Shepard looked questioningly at Bray, who was standing next to her. He jerked his head at the skycar, which Lauren was climbing into. Her friend chose the front seat, while Shepard climbed into the back to sit next to Aria. Bray switched seats with the driver, who climbed out and took Bray's spot inside the dock.

"Aria, how dramatic." Shepard said quietly.

"As Lauren has probably already told you, there are too many eyes and ears in Purgatory."

The door shut and the skycar lowered. Bray tapped the controls and they were off, driing through what seemed to be an empty corridor.

"Lauren told me this is about retaking Omega." Shepard looked at the asari, who gave a wary glance at her bondmate before looking back at Shepard.

"This is about your war, Shepard." Aria said plainly. "Cerberus controlling the terminus systems seriously bolsters their mobility."

"Since taking Omega they've spread through the galaxy. Surely the Alliance has noticed?"

"Cut to the chase." Shepard interupted. "I've already offered my help. What's the plan?"

Lauren chuckled from the front seat as she tapped on a few controls. "Simple - we kick them out. She's massed a fleet of merc ships and we're going to break through enemy lines and invade."

"Once we're on Omega it's a groundwar. That's why I want you." The asari looked at Lauren in the front seat. "I only accept the best." Aria said quietly.

Shepard watched as Aria tapped on the reader screen in her hands to pull up a picture of a man Shepard didn't recognize.

"The leader of the Cerberus occupation is General Oleg Petrovsky - he's the one who...ousted me." Aria scowled at the screen and handed it over to Shepard.

"I don't know him."

"He's the Illusive Man's top military strategist and best kept secret." Aria replied. "All you need to know is that he's a merciless bastard."

Shepard looked at Aria questioningly. She needed more information than this. "What's your intel on the occupation?"

"Petrovsky's army is massive and he's got Omega locked tight. The information stops there."

"So we're winging it?"

Aria shook her head. "Not at all. There are secrets on Omega that only I know. Secrets that will help us get a foothold. I can tell you this - Petrovsky's invasion was percise and ruthless. He'll stop at nothing to win."

"That...sounds familiar."

Aria leaned forward. "Shepard. I know my reputation. I know I'm hated - I ruled Omega with an iron fist. But the people were free - their lives were theirs. I preserved that. This man," Aria gestured to the reader screen. "Took all that away and he's **going** to pay."

She leaned back in her seat. "When Omega is mine again, I'll give you everything. I've got ships, mercs, eezo. All yours for the war."

Lauren muttered something along the lines of 'you mean my mercs and eezo' from the front seat. Aria glared coldly in her direction and Lauren went back to tapping on the controls of the skycar.

"What's the catch?" Shepard asked.

"I have objections to the company you keep. So you'll have to leave the Normandy and the crew behind." Aria's eyes glanced in Lauren's general direction.

"My crew are professionals." Shepard said defensively. "They can help with the invasion."

"Let's just say that I want your attention all to myself." Aria leaned forward over Lauren's shoulder and gently nodded her head up.

Lauren looked somewhat amused and tapped on the controls, directing the skycar back up to the dock and out of the corridor.

"Lauren will provide coordinates to my fleet. She'll take you to them directly." Aria looked at Lauren, who looked somewhat irked by the suggestion.

Shepard turned to get out of the skycar.

"Oh and Shepard," Aria said from her seat.

Shepard turned and looked at her. "While you're on the Citadel, please be discreet."

The spectre nodded and climbed out of the skycar, following Lauren and Bray as they switched places with the other batarian.

"Did you actually agree with taking her to the fleet?" Bray asked as the trio watched the skycar disappear again.

"It..took some persuading." Lauren said quietly.

Bray gave her a suspicious look.

"Keep looking at me like that and I'll shoot you myself." Lauren warned. The blonde turned to look at Shepard.

"I'll head for the Normandy - the coordinates are too sensitive for me to send to Joker. I'll have to give them to him myself."

"I understand and I'll go with you." Shepard honestly did, but she was still irked that she couldn't just take her crew with her. Going alone into Omega made her a little nervous.

"Can't wait to see what all the fuss is about." Bray said as Lauren started for the door.

Shepard gave the batarian a wary glance - she never did like batarians after Terra Nova - and walked after Lauren.

The two didn't speak as they walked to the Normandy, which was prepped to take off.


	24. Chapter 24

The Normandy drifted through space towards the mass relay that would take them to Aria's fleet. Shepard had already taken the ground crew back into the war room, leaving Lauren alone to stand next to Joker and EDI as they piloted the Normandy. Joker was uneasy about the mercenary's looming presence, but he wasn't going to say anything about it. She had that look about her that he'd seen on the SR-2's crew before. It was that same look that he never wanted to see on his own face. That haunted, dead look.

The blonde exhaled suddenly and closed her eyes, making Joker look up from the calculations he was looking over. EDI heard it too.

"Is there something wrong?" EDI asked, turning her own head to look at Lauren, rather than using the cameras in the cockpit to see her.

"My ears are burning," Lauren said quietly. "What's our ETA to the Widow System?"

Joker checked the display to his right. "Two hours, thirty-two minutes. Not counting the jump."

"Here," Lauren held out her omni-tool. "Contact me when we're in range of contacting the fleet."

Joker looked at the display on the omni-tool. Her contact information was on the screen. Her's was the same as Garrus's, only with a different name. "Where are you going?"

"To find Shepard."

Joker watched as the blonde turned on her heel and headed down the CIC, towards the door to the war room.

"She seems a little on edge." Traynor said, appearing from the CIC. "What's going on?"

Joker shrugged and turned back to his monitors. "No idea. She said she was going to go find Shepard in the war room."

"Hmm. Well, I was just in there. Shepard was talking to the ground crew about a fall-back plan in case Aria's failed." Traynor looked at her datapad. "She was also talking to Admiral Hackett, trying to get alliance intel on someone named...Petrovsky?"

The name didn't sound familiar. "Whatever. That's Shepard's business, not ours. You have those files from engineering for me?"

"Yeah, here." Traynor held out the datapad. "Call if you need anything else."

Joker took the datapad and glanced at it. "Thanks."

The pilot waited until she was gone before he glanced at the camera feed. Lauren had just walked out of the hallway camera's frame and into the war room.

"Shepard said those cameras were for emergency use only, Jeff."

Joker glanced at EDI. "Are you quoting the same woman that headbutted a krogan?"

EDI made an audible sighing noise. "Unfortunately."

* * *

"So he's a valuable asset to Cerberus?"

Shepard nodded her head. "Apparently he's the strategist that the asshole-"

"-Illusive-"

"-Illusive Man has been hiding." Shepard gave Deacon a warning glare.

The Commander just lifted his eyebrows at her and gave her a blank look.

"Interesting," Hackett said, interupting their silent communication. The admiral crossed his arms. "Shepard, are you sure you'll actually be able to capture him?"

"It won't be easy, but if I manage to, I want to be sure an Alliance ship is nearby to collect him and take him straight to you." Shepard explained. "But the Normandy can transport him, if we need to."

"The Alliance doesn't operate in the Terminus systems," Lauren's voice said.

Shepard leaned to the right so she could see the approaching mercenary. "This meeting is for-"

"The ground crew only," Lauren said briskly. "I get that. What I don't understand is why you think you can just hand over Petrovsky to the Alliance."

Shepard and Deacon exchanged glances. "Is that going to be a problem?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, that is a huge fucking problem." The mercenary replied. "He's a criminal on Omega also."

"Everyone on Omega is a criminal." Shepard said bluntly.

"Shepard," Garrus spoke up. "There's a distinct difference between what we consider a criminal and what Omega considers a criminal."

Shepard brought a hand up to rub at her forehead. "Alright - wait. Now I'm lost."

"Don't be," Lauren said coldly. "Let me explain to you what's going to happen. Shepard is coming with me to help with the invasion. We're going to kill every Cerberus agent on Omega and take the station back. Especially Petrovsky."

"Are you fucking-" Deacon started.

Shepard stuck her arm out and put her hand across his chest, cutting him off. "Are these Aria's orders?"

"To the letter."


	25. Chapter 25

The view from the cockpit of the Widow System was impressive. Lauren stood with her arms crossed at Joker's left, watching as the Normandy approached Aria's waiting fleet.

Deacon let out a low whistle. "Damn that's a lot of ships."

Lauren smiled. Aria's massed fleet was impressive. At the center of the fleet was a white ship with a Cerberus logo on it's hull, like a dark scar on light skin. She could see the Eclipse, Blue Suns, and Blood Pack were there also.

"All of those ships are for the assault on Omega?" Joker asked.

"Yes," Lauren turned on her heel and noticed Shepard approaching in armor from the CIC. "Joker, can you contact the Cerberus ship?"

"Yeah - hold on." The pilot tapped at a few buttons. He cleared his throat. "This is the SSV Normandy SR-2, Alliance fleet."

There was no response.

Lauren sighed. "This is the SSV Normandy SR-2," she repeated, somewhat louder. "This is T'Loak - I have Shepard on board."

There was a pause. A woman's voice answered. "Oh, T'Loak. I was startled for a minute. This is Argesty-2, Sevah speaking. Approach the flag ship at the following coordinates."

Joker watched as a few numbers appeared on his screen. "When you say jump-"

"-I'll ask how high." Deacon said, finishing the phrase. He looked at Lauren. "Nice armor."

Lauren shifted, her new armor tightening as she moved. She'd brought it on board the Normandy in a duffel bag, and only changed after she'd spoken to Shepard in the war room. "Thanks."

"New right?" The engineer asked, looking it over. "It smells new."

The mercenary nodded. "New mesh, poly over-layer. The whole deal." She patted the chest plate affectionately. "My old armor was shot all to hell by those Cerberus freaks. Aria had this waiting for me when I get back. Are you ready, Shepard?"

Shepard nodded and leaned over Joker's chair. "Stay here in the system until you hear otherwise."

"Yes, ma'am."

Shepard looked at Deacon. "Keep the communications open. You're in charge."

Deacon nodded. "Understood."

Garrus made a strangled noise as he walked up. "Spirits why?"

"No noises from the backseat." Shepard said dryly. She straightened up and looked at Lauren. "I expect that this won't take long."

Lauren had a smirk on her face. "Oh, don't worry Shepard. You'll be back to saving the universe before you know it."

"Good. The sooner we get this over with, the faster I can make it to that diplomatic summit-thing." Shepard looked out the Normandy's widow.

The blonde shifted. "That reminds me - Aria and I talked about the job offer."

"Really?"

"Yeah," The blonde was staring out the window at the Cerberus ship they were approaching. "When we secure Omega, I'll tell you what she said. Come on."

Shepard patted Joker's chair. "Remember what I told you."

"Yeah, yeah," The pilot hummed from his chair. "Stay put, keep the channels open, and help keep the children under control."

"Good boy." Shepard said as she walked into the airlock.

The airlock door shut behind her and the decontamination protocol started at once. This time it seemed to go faster than normal. When the airlock door opened in front of Lauren, the mercenary basically ran out and to a small pair of waiting mercs.

Shepard recognized one of them immediately as that turian, Derimus.

"Everything's and everyone's in position." The turian said immediately, handing over a data screen. "Aria is talking to Jargel up on the command deck."

"Everyone made it?" Lauren's tone reminded Shepard of a concerned teacher.

Derimus nodded. "Sevah and I checked twice. Every one of our ships and mercs are here."

The asari at the turian's elbow nodded too.

"Good." Lauren said as she took the data screen. "Get to your stations and keep everyone on their toes. We'll be leaving soon."

"Yes, ma'am."

"This way, Shepard." Lauren droned, headed for the command deck.

Shepard walked after her, keeping a wary eye on the mercenaries they passed. They seemed to have the same determined look on their faces as they went about their jobs. What their jobs were, Shepard couldn't tell.

"Command ship has the pick of the liter on it," Lauren said, seeming to sense Shepard's thoughts. "These are our best. They'll be with us on the initial assault."

"I wasn't aware there was an order to things. I thought Aria was just winging it."

"We had the initial assault planned out the minute we found out that this ship had been captured. I planned it myself - to an extent. I wish I had more time to work out all the flaws, but we have to move quickly before word reaches Petrovsky and Omega." Lauren rounded a corner. "We cannot risk losing the window we have."

"Most of the ships I saw were transport." Shepard commented.

Lauren glanced over her shoulder. "So? They'll still be able to distract them while we make our own approach."

She rounded another corner, into what Shepard could tell was the command part of the ship. The cockpit was also a part of the room.

"-We're outshipped four-to-one," someone was saying. Shepard noticed the person on the holoscreen almost immediately. "And most of our vessels are transports with limited firepower."

"We're not here to win a space-battle, Jargal. We just have to punch through their lines." Aria was standing the furthest away from them.

"So you did commandeer a cerberus cruiser." Shepard said loudly, getting Aria's attention.

The asari turned on her heel and looked at Shepard. "The guest of honor has arrived. We can finally start."

"We would have been here faster if we hadn't have taken the scenic route." Lauren commented as she walked to one of the pilot's seats.

Shepard ignored her. "Let me guess," the spectre watched as Aria tapped on some controls. "Your plan was to infiltrate the enemy's fleet?"

"Exactly." Aria sounded confident.


	26. Chapter 26

Every fiber in Lauren's body was practically twitching as she watched Aria explain her plans to Shepard. She had protested and fought Aria at every turn when it came to their plans on retaking Omega in the last few weeks. Every mercenary that had been present during the first and only meeting, most of whom didn't know of their marriage, had respectfully kept their mouths shut as the two mercenary bosses had argued about the plans. Eventually the two had reached a stalemate that was only solved by factoring in Shepard.

Shepard.

Lauren looked at the brunette, who was asking intelligent and carefully guarded questions while Aria explained the different paths that the other mercs would be taking once they landed on Omega. She was tall, athletically built, and carried around this air of complete confidence. That air of confidence was why Aria needed her - Petrovsky had to scared in order to loose Omega. And Shepard made people uneasy. Mostly because she had the skills to back up her promises and threats.

But Lauren was unsure if Shepard would go with the plan when they landed. That was, of course, if they landed.

A sudden tap on her shoulder interrupted her thoughts. Sevah was standing at her elbow with a data pad in her hands. She held it out and Lauren picked it up, reading it's contents quickly.

"Thank you." Lauren said as she realized it was a weapon count. "Go back to your station."

The asari nodded and walked off. Lauren admired the mute asari. She'd been born with defunct vocal cords and never had them fixed - choosing instead as a young girl to speak through a combination of her Omni-tool and her ability to mind meld. Lauren glanced at the statistics that were running across the screen of her Omni-tool. Every single number and letter hadn't changed in the slightest in about five minutes. It still read the same thing.

Omega was still in the dark.

No news from Lauren's agents. No news from any kind of resistance.

Dark, dark, dark. No lights, no noise, no music. Omega was a quiet derelict station under complete control of an even quieter enemy.

"Any changes?" Aria suddenly asked.

Lauren looked up and shook her head the tiniest bit. "Not a sound."

"Is life-support still on?"

"Both environmental and oxygen, yes." Lauren scrolled through the list of numbers. "There is a high-power draw. I suspect heavy weapons."

"Your fleet could be torn to pieces, Aria." Shepard pointed out. "Are you sure?"

"As sure as I've ever been. Bray, give word to the rest of the fleet. We're going on my signal and my signal only."

Lauren turned to watch the asari strut down to the batarian's side. "Derimus, relay to the fleet. We jump on Aria's signal."

"Yes ma'am."

Aria patted Bray on the shoulder. "Let's show Cerberus what we're made of."

* * *

"Looks like they're on their way." Joker craned his neck to look at Deacon, who was standing with his arms crossed in front of his chest, in the middle of the cockpit.

"Yes. Yes it does." Deacon's tone was flat. "EDI - get me a connection to Admiral Hackett. I want to speak to him as soon as he can secure a connection."

"Yes, Commander." EDI said as she looked over the internal systems of the Normandy. She assigned a sub-routine to Deacon's order and went back to working on calibrations with Garrus on the ship's other systems.

"Joker - keep Shepard's channel open. I want to know the moment you hear anything." Deacon said as he watched Aria's command ship hit the relay. "Ashley's god willing we hear something from her in exactly twelve hours or we'll have to follow through on Shepard's orders."

"Yeah, that'd suck." Joker tapped at the communications panel. "Because the last thing I'd want to do is go attack Omega and find Shepard amongst thousands of warring mercenaries and Cerberus agents. We might scratch the Normandy," He joked.

"That would be a tragedy." Deacon replied sarcastically. "Shepard would never forgive us if we scratched the Normandy."

* * *

_Because creativity is at an all time low and there's quite a few one-shots on my computer, I'll be starting a one-shot series called Behind the Mirror that involves characters from Until the End. Look for it on my profile if you're interested - but don't be worried - this story is still ongoing! It's just taking a while to write the next chapter! ~Iehu_


	27. Chapter 27

Petrovsky looked up from his chess set and at the monitor to his left that was blaring. Before he could register what was going on, an agent came running up into his makeshift command post.

"General - a ship just came through the relay. It's Ceberus and it's being followed by dozens of ships." The agent said quickly.

Petrovsky stood up. "I see she's choosing to play bold. Hail the Cerberus ship."

* * *

"We're being hailed."

"Twenty credits says its that bastard." Lauren said coldly.

Aria turned and headed for the holo-table. "Put him through."

Bray tapped on the table.

Almost instantly, the view of Omega disappeared and was replaced by a man in a glaringly obvious Cerberus uniform. Shepard instantly straightened up and walked after Aria, putting her best intimidating face forward.

"Aria. I just knew this had to be you."

"Told you." Lauren muttered to Derimus.

"You'll never make it." Petrovsky continued. "Call it off now."

"You're barking up the wrong tree general." Aria waved a finger in Shepard's direction. "Maybe you could convince my partner, here."

Petrovsky shifted when he saw Shepard. "Commander Shepard. I've heard great things about you."

Good. Lauren thought. The bastards intimidated.

"My partner hasn't said much about you." Shepard said coldly.

"She's not used to being defeated. It clouds her judgment," Petrovsky looked at Shepard. "A pity you left Cerberus. But we all sabotage ourselves in various ways. Deep down you fear success. And Aria clearly thinks that you will unsettle me in some way."

"Clearly she has." Lauren sidled into view, a cold look on her face.

Petrovsky gave the blonde a cold look before choosing to ignore her. He looked at Aria. "I see you've gone to the trouble of augmenting that ship with Solarius armory. What a waste. I've made improvements to Omega's outer defenses. My cannons will make short work of you."

Lauren sidled out of view and made a motion for Derimus. Shepard glanced at them and realized instantly what the human was doing - warning assets.

"He sounds confident." Shepard said coldly.

Aria glanced at Shepard. "Yeah, he does."

"I say turn back." Petrovsky said confidently.

"Let's see what you've got Oleg. End transmission."

"With pleasure." Lauren said as she terminated the call.

"That went well. Set preset course. We're ramming the station. Everyone brace for impact."

Shepard's nerves suddenly went on high alert. "What?!"

"Omega's kinetic barriers will stop my ships-"

"Ours, from landing." Lauren said, interrupting her. "We equipped this ship with disruptors to take it out on impact."

"Don't worry," Aria said as she leaned over the holotable. "We'll probably survive the crash."

"Omega just lit up," Lauren said urgently. "Power draw at fifty-six percent to the outer ring. All ships take evasive maneuvers," Lauren barked into the comm. "Avoid the radius of enemy fire until you receive word that the generators are down."

The ship suddenly jolted. Shepard grabbed the railing by the holotable and gripped it. Suddenly Shepard felt the ship rock as it was hit by fire.

"All systems failing!" Bray barked over his shoulder.

The ship rocked again and loud alarms were beginning to go off.

The ship rocked again and Lauren looked up from her monitors. "Aria-"

"We can make it." Aria said.

Shepard's inner instincts took over. They would never fucking make it at this point, the ship was falling apart.

"Don't be stupid, sound the damn evac." Shepard snapped.

"Already did it," Lauren snapped from her position. "All pods prepped for evac. I'll pilot the ship remotely - Everyone out!"

"Let's go!" Shepard barked at everyone nearby. "Everyone to the pods!"

The last thing Shepard saw as she raced after Aria was Lauren grabbing a merc and ripping them from the controls that piloted the ship.

"Go!" The biotic barked.

Shepard and Aria ran past various mercs that were running for the pods. Adrenaline was coursing through her system when she jumped in the pod after Aria. When she turned to see if Lauren was right behind them, Shepard couldn't see her.

"Guess that asshole really did upgrade Omega's systems." Aria said loudly.

"So it would seem - where's Lauren?"

Aria looked to the pod door as it closed and forced down the panic that was rising in her chest. She'd make it. Lauren always did.

The pod jolted as it was launched from the ship and into open space. Shepard counted six people including herself and Aria. They all gripped the harness bars in front of them as the pod was rocked by what Shepard assumed was fire from Omega's defense cannons.

Then suddenly the pod shook as if it were coming apart - or ripping through something. Then suddenly Shepard's body was slammed into the bars in front of her - making her glad for a second that she went with her durable armor - and the pod went still.

Shepard threw the bars off of her and grabbed her assault rifle, noting that everyone in the pod was alive and moving, and went for the small circular door that went out.

She jumped and realized as she was landing that; one they were surrounded and two she was moving too fast and couldn't stop running as she landed. So she brought her gun up and slammed the first agent she could find in the face. She turned around to shoot at another that was standing too close just as Aria was firing at an agent behind her that she couldn't see.

Shepard's heart was pounding and adrenaline was coursing through her veins as she fired at any Cerberus agent she could see that was standing. Out of the corner of her eye she saw one of Aria's mercs go down as the last agent fell with a dull thud on the floor.

Aria suddenly sprinted ahead, headed for a nearby cargo crate for cover. Shepard followed suit and took cover next to her, firing at an agent that was advancing in their direction.

"Let's hope all the other pods made it." Aria said loudly.

"So what's the plan?" Shepard asked as she leaned out of cover to fire off a few shots.

"We need to take down the defense system station," Aria explained. "We take that out, we take out Omega's outer defenses and my ships can land. If they don't my ships will be torn to pieces like we were. Lauren's to head for the generators and put up Omega's inner barriers and to lead the charge with the forces we have here."

"If she landed." Shepard grunted as took down another agent.

Aria ignored her and fired on an approaching operative. Shepard did the same, barely being able to take out another advancing agent.

"This is what I brought you for," Aria said loudly. "Ground assault. In combat, what you say goes!"

"You're giving me command?" Shepard asked, somewhat bewildered.

"I can be a team player, Commander. I know where we need to go and you can get us there. Also, Lauren suggested that you might be able to fight off Cerberus troops more effectively since you've been fighting them longer."

"Okay, let's move!" Shepard said as she threw herself out from behind the crate.


	28. Chapter 28

Omega's streets were empty as Cerberus agents patrolled them. They were on the lookout for any survivors that escaped the downed pod they found earlier. Little did they know that the only survivor of said pod was sitting on the corner of a rooftop, her eyes narrowed in their direction.

Lauren had escaped the ship last with a group of mercs that were currently headed for D-Deck. Because of where she had landed amongst narrowed streets and a open walkway, both with Cerberus agents headed in her direction, she was faced with a tough choice.

Run through the access hallways behind her until she managed to find her way to D-Deck, or head down into the streets and fight her way there in a few minutes rather than a few hours.

"Decisions, decisions." Lauren muttered.

Or she could do none of that and head for her forces that were trapped on the upper levels. Aria would skin her ass if she didn't do as she was told and head for the generators. But her men needed to get down to D-Deck. Sevah shifted into view and looked skeptically at her.

"I want you to head for the generators. Reroute the power and then get to the rendezvous point." Lauren ordered quietly.

Sevah nodded and then tilted her head sideways.

"I'm going for my men." The biotic informed her quietly. "We're going to need them for the assault on Afterlife."

The mute nodded and motioned at the four people behind her. Derimus looked concerned.

"How are we going to get past them on the walkways?"

Lauren looked down at the street below. "I'm going to lead them into the access hallways and kill them."

"Ambush?" Derimus shook his head. "Risky plan."

"Risk is all we have at this point." Lauren pointed out. "Just worry about getting to the generators. I'll handle the rest."

* * *

Aria walked to the far side of the defense system station and looked out at the battle raging outside the station. They'd made it to the station in ten minutes flat. Shepard was an amazing sight to see as she left a path of destruction on the way. The whole time Aria actually had time to herself to think about the battle at hand.

There was a flood of new information on her Omni-tool that she had to consider before she made anymore plans. Lauren's team had made it to the generators safely and re-routed power to Omega's inner defenses. Cerberus forces were separated and their own communications that were routed through Omega's power system were completely cut off. However, Lauren was not with her team, choosing instead to go after her mercs that were trapped on the upper wards.

Shepard suddenly straightened up. "That should do it." She said. "Defenses offline."

Aria turned on her comm. "Jargal, defenses are down. Signal the surviving ships to converge on the rendezvous point."

"Aye, approach trajectories plotted. We're already queuing up."

"Bray, come in, status?"

Bray responded immediately. "Rendezvous point secured. Hangar doors enabled, we'll have them open soon."

"Need them open now," Aria informed him. "My birds are coming in, prep for reception."

Shepard walked over. "Did Lauren make it to the generators?"

Aria looked at Shepard and shook her head. "No. It seems she's decided to go rogue and go after her men that were cornered in the upper wards."

Shepard didn't even looked the slightest bit concerned. She actually looked rather annoyed. "Doesn't she listen to your orders?"

The matriarch snorted. "She's a mercenary, Shepard. Not a soldier. She does whatever the hell she wants."

"And you let her?"

Aria shook her head and walked towards the door that let out of the defense station. "She's a big girl, Shepard. She can take care of herself. Come on."

"Where are we going exactly?" Shepard asked. "Everyone's mentioned the 'rendezvous point' but no one's said exactly what that is."

"It a bunker I established on D Deck for my more," She paused. "Sensitive operations. Impenetrable with its own secret hangar and dock."

Shepard suddenly heard a familiar buzz to her right and glanced over her shoulder. A security camera caught her eye.

"Independent power source, life support, munitions. You'll see."

The camera twitched and seemed to focus on Aria. Shepard pulled out her pistol and promptly shot it.

"There's a good chance that your friend might know where we're going." Shepard said quickly.

"Then there's no time for sightseeing." Aria said briskly. "We need to move now."

The asari jogged for the door and flipped through her Omni-tool to ping Bray.

"Yes?" Bray's voice answered.

"You might have company incoming. Deal with them discreetly. I don't want the General to find out where we're hiding just yet." Aria barked. "And get everyone ready, our fight starts now."

* * *

Lauren ran as fast as she could go, her heart pounding in her chest thanks to the massive amount of adrenaline running through her system. Cerberus operatives were right on her heels, firing at her when they could see her as she ran in between crates.

She'd managed to free her men and get them out of harm's way so they could get to the rendezvous, but now she was stuck in the demise of her own plan. She couldn't reach the access hallway panel that she had to lock earlier, to be sure no one could get in her escape route.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Lauren slid to a stop behind a larger crate and holstered her pistol.

The panel was too fucking far for her to get to. Too many agents in the way, too many guns pointed in her direction. She began to run through her options quickly in her head.

_No, no, no. I can't reach the panel, even if I managed to throw a crate and distract them...Maybe..?_ She looked at the secured door. She knew that it was only three inches of steel - hardened Terminus steel - but it was still too much of a risk. _If I waste my biotics now, I'll could be useless by the time the initial assault on Afterlife starts._

A shot went by her head and she flinched.

"Damn it." Lauren growled. "I don't want to rip a hole in this station unless I have to."

She stretched her fingers and bolted from behind the crate, throwing a shockwave at a cluster of Cerberus operatives before bolting for the far side of the open platform. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears as she ran, but she didn't dare stop. She didn't even dare breathe as she vaulted over a railing and straight to the access hallway panel.

She flung her hand out at it and activated her Omni-tool at the same time, which unlocked it. As the door began to open her shoulder suddenly stung and she threw herself inside, furiously attempting to lock it behind her. She knew that they couldn't be too far behind her, but if she got the lock shut and blew the panel, they'd never get in unless they could tear through steel and support beams.

When the lock finally turned red she bolted down the hallway, heading for the shaft that would lead straight down to D-Deck and the safety of the bunker.


	29. Chapter 29

Shepard and Aria walked on Omega's streets, heading for D-Deck as quickly and carefully as they could. So far they'd had to fight a few Cerberus agents that had managed to find them, but with Aria's biotics they were quickly dead. Shepard was impressed by the asari's abilities, but forced down her questions until they could reach the safety of the bunker. Omega's streets were empty and dangerous, and they both knew it. One mistake and the sprawling station would be lost to Cerberus forever.

That's when Shepard noticed the vorcha standing by an orange barrier.

"What the hell is he doing?" Aria asked as she stepped forward.

That's when something fell off the walkway above the vorcha. Shepard went to shoot, but they were too late. Whatever had appeared had enticed the vorcha to shoot, leaving Shepard and Aria to scramble for cover.

Shepard looked up from her cover and felt her stomach twist as those things - mechs, she could see them clearly now - killed one vorcha and shoved another into the orange barrier.

That's when the vorcha screamed and lit on fire.

_The barriers are incinerators. _Shepard noted. _That's how Cerberus has been controlling the citizens and keeping them locked in their own neighborhoods. Mechs and barriers that kill. Wonderful._

That's when the mech turned and looked directly in Shepard's direction.

"Mechs! Take them out!" Aria shouted as she fired off a few shotgun rounds from her own cover.

"Go left!" Shepard ordered at the asari, bolting to her right side and firing her assault rifle as she moved.

One mech sputtered and fell, riddled by bullets and taken by surprise. The others advanced, shields preventing them from being killed immediately by Shepard or Aria's fire. Shepard ducked behind a crate, wondering vaguely how much shield power Cerberus would put on mechs.

That's when she noticed the red "eyes" on a nearby mech's "face". She'd seen them before when she visited the infected factory back when she was chasing after the Collectors.

"They're rampant!" Shepard shouted to Aria.

"Doesn't matter," Aria shouted back. "They'll still fall!"

* * *

Lauren slowed to a stop and doubled over. Her lungs felt like they were on fire. She'd managed to run down six levels, avoiding Cerberus agents as she ran. They must have found out about the bunker.

There was a metallic thump and Lauren straightened up, igniting a mass effect field around her body.

"Whose there?" Lauren shouted. "Come out where I can see you!"

A woman rounded the corner twenty feet away, two people behind her.

Lauren relaxed, her biotic field disappearing. "How the hell did civilians get into the access hallways?" She asked loudly.

"Through maintenance." The woman explained. "We thought you were Cerberus."

"Obviously, I'm not." Lauren snapped. "What the hell are you doing in here?"

"We're the head engineers from maintenance and life support." The woman explained. "Cerberus agents have been trying to get control of life support and Omega's fields. We've been rerouting control into the access hallways - to keep them from turning off life support or the protective barriers around the station."

Lauren walked towards them. "Are any of you armed?"

"No," The salarian answered. "We're unarmed."

"Then you're dead if you stay," Lauren pointed out. "Cerberus is going to flood the access hallways to get to D-Deck. They've probably got orders to shoot on sight."

"Fuck." The batarian muttered. "What do we do now?"

"We can't abandon the controls," the salarian said to the woman. "If we don't keep monitoring them, they could get access and shut off life support level by level."

"Can you transfer the controls to an Omni-tool and monitor them on that?" Lauren suggested.

The trio looked at each other before nodding. "It's possible, but we don't have an Omni-tool."

Lauren activated hers and held it out. "Re-route the controls. Then the three of you can follow me to Aria's bunker - where you can re-route it to a terminal there."

They all looked at each other.

"It's either that or stay and get killed." Lauren pointed out. "Make it fast."

The woman nodded and started tapping on Lauren's Omni-tool. "This shouldn't take more than a minute..."


	30. Chapter 30

The cannons came to life, firing on the approaching Cerberus troops. Shepard didn't need to look to know that the enemy was being obliterated. She could hear it.

"Nice guns!" Nyreen said to Aria.

"They'll keep the General's forces at bay for a while." Aria replied quickly.

"Let's get inside," Shepard ordered. "No use standing out here anymore."

"Bunker team, retract the bridge and lower the blast door - we're coming in." Aria barked into her radio. She turned to look out at the carnage, making sure everyone was at the door.

Shepard glanced wearily at her before heading inside, helping one of the wounded mercenaries get past the blast door. Aria stalked past and even stepped over a few of her mercenaries until she was at a point where she could watch. A few of her agents stepped forward and lit up the door with biotic barriers.

"I know this place is built like a fortress," Nyreen said suddenly. "But is it safe now that the general's clued in?"

"Yeah, I don't like it either." Shepard agreed grimly.

"I have no intention of sitting around and you both should know that I assume nothing on that front." Aria suddenly walked past them, looking at the door. "Nyreen you left Omega rather angry with me - I wasn't aware that you'd returned. Explain yourself."

"That's because I never left. In fact I went to great lengths to keep from you." Nyreen replied.

"I'm not easily duped." Aria stated. "Well done. Why?"

"I just couldn't leave." Nyreen said.

Shepard narrowed her eyes at Nyreen. The Spectre could tell from their stances that this turian used to be close. Very close.

"Considering all this," Nyreen continued. "I wish I had."

Aria looked over one of her fallen agents with a grim expression. "Well you always said I'd be the death of you."

That's when Shepard knew she had to butt in. "Nyreen has military training. She could be of use."

"You're so quick to trust, huh Shepard?" Aria looked at Shepard with a blank expression, though her body language easily told Shepard she was annoyed. "Nyreen never approved of, what did you call it? Moral bankruptcy? Are you willing to help defend it now?"

"You'll find me very willing to liberate the station." Nyreen replied.

"Your skills seem to be a bit rusty, but you're still a good shot. See my duty officer." Aria ordered.

Nyreen nodded and walked off.

"Bray, keep an eye on her." Aria said quietly in the batarian's direction.

"Will do." Bray muttered.

"Alright, Shepard, we need to move fast. I'm itching for revenge." Aria said quickly.

"You think I'm going to let you carve a bloody path through this campaign, you're mistaken." Shepard said coolly. She wasn't about to pick a fight, but she needed to try to calm Aria down. The asari needed to think.

"And if you think you're going to change me, well, you're welcome to try." Aria walked to an associate. "Once up and running this bunker will provide recon and secret access to much of the station. I'd like for you to quickly eyeball operations make sure that everything's working."

"What will you be doing?" Shepard asked.

"Checking in on my forces - I need to see how many survived the initial attack." Aria walked up the stairs, followed by Shepard. "It won't take long."

Shepard understood the tone. Lauren was obviously still absent.

"Join me at the commander center when you're done."

Shepard watched her leave and looked around. There had to be something she could do to help these people. The wounded caught her eye first.

"I'll start there." Shepard muttered.

* * *

"Do yourself a favor and move your ass!" Lauren barked at the engineers, directing towards the ladder that would take them directly to one of the bunker's secret entrances. "Go down the ladder, hit the red button by the intercom and say the phrase, 'Omega is everything'. Go!"

* * *

"How are we looking?" Aria asked her technician.

"All systems operational, full Omega schematics coming online now."

A diagram of Omega appeared on the holo table. Some spots immediately caught Shepard's attention, as well as the uneasy feeling coming from Aria and the technician.

"Let's take a look." Aria said. "I see. Shepard, those force fields we saw, the General has them set up everywhere."

"He's controlling access across the station," Shepard said as she realized what was going on.

"What are those dark areas?" Aria asked the technician.

"Many sections of Omega are powered down - I'm betting they're being siphoned to power those force fields."

"Find the source, priority one."

"We're going to need a full tactical assessment of all Cerberus positions," Shepard added.

The salarian nodded. "I'll get on it."

"Shepard we have work to do." Aria said with a sigh. "Our losses were significant. We can't field an army large enough to face down Cerberus. Even though it seems we gained what's left of Sapphire's imprisoned forces."

Shepard noted the grim tone in which Aria gave her the information. "Then we need to find allies, anyone we can use to help us. Story of my career."

"We've confirmed there's a merc gang still active, the Talons, are fighting the occupation. They're not my first choice, but they're all we've got."

"Then it's time to play diplomat."

Aria narrowed her eyes. "And if the current leader won't join us, the next one will."

That's when Shepard noticed an irritated looking Bray walking up.

"I hate to interrupt, but I looked away for a second to install something and when I looked back-"

"You lost her?" Aria asked angrily.

Bray rubbed his head. "Well, I-"

"We're locked down." Shepard stepped forward. "How'd she get out?"

"This bunker has secret access points to other parts of the station, unfortunately Nyreen knows all of them." Aria slammed her hand into the railing by the holo table. "Damn it Bray, if I wasn't already short on manpower-" She took a deep breath. "We should be focusing on getting the Talons on board."

Shepard nodded in agreement.

"I'll meet you at the armory access when you're ready. But don't keep me waiting."

"What about Sapphire?" Shepard asked, being careful to keep her voice low.

Aria focused her blue eyes on the hologram. "I've received word that she freed her men, who are here now, but that she went off grid not soon after. I have no idea where she's headed, but I can only assume that she's headed down the access hallways now."

"What makes you think that?" Shepard gave the asari a skeptical look.

"Because I showed both Nyreen and Sapphire those hallways - no doubt she's using them to avoid detection by Cerberus too."


	31. Chapter 31

Lauren slammed the hatch shut over the ladder that led down and looked down at the engineers, who were currently being helped into the bunker. She secured the hatch and locked it before climbing down the ladder and into the bunker, greeted immediately by the sight of a relieved-looking Derimus. The turian offered a talon up to her and twitched one of his mandibles.

"I want these engineers taken immediately to the control boards - they need to re-establish the link to life support so we can monitor it." Lauren said as she grasped his talon and used it for support as she stepped down. "Where is T'Loak?"

"She and Shepard just left to go find the Talons." Derimus stated bluntly. "To recruit them for our cause."

"How many did we loose?" Lauren asked quietly.

Derimus shook his head. "Too many."

That's when Lauren noticed the absent and depressed look on his face. "Where's Sevah, Derimus?"

The turian shook his head.

Her stomach twisted into a knot. "Dead?"

"Wounded." Derimus said bluntly. "We have people working on the wounded, but she's lower on the list. Shepard tended to her already."

"Any priorities?" Lauren asked, pushing aside the immediate need to check on her subordinates.

"Parts of Omega are dark and force fields are keeping parts of the station inaccessible." Derimus said motioning that they should head for the command center.

Lauren looked around and realized that many mercenaries were watching her with a confused expression. She nodded and they headed for the holo table. "I take it priority one is to find the source and shut it down?"

A salarian appeared and nodded. "Yes."

"Az," Lauren felt a nice wave of relief. The salarian was their best technician and Lauren was hoping he'd made it. "Nice to see that you made it."

"Like you'd be able to take care of Omega without me." The salarian replied as he moved to a few other terminals.

Bray appeared and instantly looked relieved. "Sapphire. Good - I was worried we'd lost our assault leader."

"Takes more than just Cerberus to stop me." Lauren replied dryly. "Status report."

"Omega is still dark - parts of the station are powered down." Az replied quickly, holding out a data pad to her. He knew that she could read the combination of numbers that Omega was currently dialing out. "More than likely to power those force fields.

Lauren took the data pad and watched the numbers scroll for a second. "Az - is the reactor online?"

The salarian tapped a few controls and nodded. "Of course. Why?"

"Life support and oxygen?"

"Now that we have the controls we can prevent power from being lost anywhere on the station." Az replied quickly, gesturing to the engineers on his left. "However - if the reactor were to be shut down..."

"I want power re-routed from non-critical systems to power life support in the vulnerable areas." Lauren ordered. "Just in case that bastard decides to turn off the reactor. I don't want to loose any of our people."

"I'll get right on it." Az replied, waving at the engineers nearby.

"Bray - how are our leaders looking?" Lauren asked, setting the datapad down.

"Shepard and Aria have made it to the talon hideout."

"The drug pushers?" She raised an eyebrow at the batarian.

Bray nodded. "Shepard said that our numbers are too low and they're our best shot."

"Of course Shepard's behind it." Lauren said with a sigh.

"There's something else." Bray said, shifting uncomfortably.

She looked at him skeptically. "What is it Bray?"

"Nyreen is on the station."

Her heart froze for a second. "Here?"

Bray nodded.

She narrowed her eyes. "You're sure?"

"Shepard and Aria ran into her in the tunnels. She disappeared not long after they arrived here."

"Damn it Kandros," Lauren growled. "I told you to get off Omega."

"You knew she was here?" Bray asked suddenly.

"And I told her to leave. Looks like that stupid honor code of hers prevented her from doing it. Fucking idiot - she had better not fuck up our plans or I'll wring her neck myself." She spat. "I want reports on our current status - someone get a damn link to the system up. I need to see which parts of the station are fighting."

That's when her shoulder began to ache. She automatically moved her arm and rotated her shoulder, which suddenly exploded in pain.

"Fucking-" Lauren clamped her other hand over her shoulder. "What the hell?"

Derimus moved over automatically. "The armor's torn - that's a deep cut."

She felt his talons scrape over her skin as he peeled the thin part of her armor back. "How deep?"

"Deep enough that I'm going to go find you a packet of medigel." Derimus said automatically. "I'll be right back."

Bray moved over and gave Lauren's shoulder a look. He grimaced immediately. "Shit - you can see the cybernetics in your shoulder."

"What?" Panic rose in her throat. "Is anything damaged?"

Bray shook his head and tilted his head. "Doesn't look like anything's hurt. You must have gotten caught by a bullet when your shields went down."

"Must have." Lauren didn't want to look. "I'll live."

"You might have mobility problems with your arm though," Bray looked concerned. "Will you be able to use your biotics with that injury?"

"I'll be fine." She responded. "It just has to be patched up."

Derimus reappeared with something in his hands. "There isn't a lot of medigel left. I can stitch it for you and then cover it with a sterile patch."

"Will it hold?"

The turian nodded. "Patched myself up like this all the time. Though stitching up your delicate skin will be a change from my plates. Hold still."

* * *

"Are we recruiting these people because they're good or because we're that low on manpower?" Shepard grunted as she followed Aria.

"They're cannon fodder." Aria grunted as she climbed up a ladder. "We're recruiting them because they're the only ones in town."

"Don't tell them that." Shepard replied as she climbed up after Aria.

Aria stopped halfway up the ladder, giving Shepard a full view of the asari's ass. "Relax, Shepard. This is how it works on Omega. Just let me do the talking-"

Aria's Omni-tool crackled to life. "Cerberus forces are scrambling! Looks like they're headed for the talons! Judging from comm chatter the priority target is in the area - could be the talon leader!"

The asari returned to climbing, going faster than she had been before. "Looks like we fight our way through Cerberus to get to them." She said as she pulled herself off the ladder and onto a platform level.

"Story of my fucking career." Shepard said as she pulled herself up after Aria. "Let's try to get there before everyone gets killed."

"After you, Commander." Aria said with a smirk.


	32. Chapter 32

Aria was surprised that Nyreen was the leader of the Talons. Shepard, however, was not so surprised. She may not have been the best at reading body language during her training days, but she had plenty of practice during her chase after Saren. The human was standing with her arms crossed, watching Nyreen through narrowed eyes as the turian moved to help her comrades off the ground.

"-Cerberus is attacking one of our outposts. That's where I need to be." The turian was saying, moving away towards a control panel on her left.

"We're done here boss," Another turian walked up from nearby.

"Right." Nyreen straightened up. "Aria, Commander Shepard - whatever you're here for, the answer is no. Kindly escort yourselves off Talon territory."

"Alright, let me point something out in case you haven't figured it out yet, we're here to help." Shepard said irritably. Her opinion of Nyreen went from militant mercenary to annoying mercenary. "We'll talk about it after we reach your outpost."

"That's a generous offer." Nyreen said skeptically. "Aria, does Commander Shepard also speak for you too?"

"Not the way I would have put it, but that's the idea." Aria managed to somehow keep her face straight.

Nyreen could see the tension in Aria's shoulders. "Come with me." The turian said to the pair.

* * *

"Mother fucker!" Lauren slammed her hand into the console she was at. "Fucking Petrovsky!"

Az looked up from his controls. "Problem, Sapphire?"

Lauren gestured to the console. "He put up a redundant system on the fucking reactor. If we shut it down to take down those barriers, life support goes off for the lower sections of the station."

The salarian blinked in alarm. "Those are the most heavily inhabited areas of the station!"

"I've been trying to reroute, but it looks like I'm getting nowhere fast. I can't maintain a remote connection without him sending a hacker after me." Lauren growled. "Someone will have to be at the controls in order to break his connection and take down the barriers."

"That's suicide." Bray said. "Even with a team. He's likely to have that place guarded."

"Write that down on a report and save it for Aria. Tell her that I've gone to go secure the area around there."

"Are you crazy?" Derimus leaned over the holotable. "You'll get torn to pieces by the mechs on that level!"

"If I take the sub-level, I can bypass them completely. Standing orders are as follows; Maintain this position and hold the bunker. Wait for instruction from Aria, Shepard, or myself." Lauren straightened up. "Send me reports on encrypted channel twenty-seven beta. Keep me informed on all pertinent developments."

Derimus could see there was no use arguing with her. "Yes, Sapphire."

* * *

Nyreen's outpost was impressive. Shepard stood quietly while the turian and Aria talked at the command post, her mind busy thinking of a new strategy.

"You've done an excellent job, Nyreen. But I'll be taking over now." Aria was saying. "And you know what happens to people who argue with me."

The turian narrowed her own eyes, her mandibles twitching. "And if I say no? You'll just kill me and take over? My people won't stand for that."

Aria looked out at the clusters of mercenaries. "Yes, they do seem, nauseatingly loyal."

"Look whose talking," Nyreen muttered.

Aria ignored her. "Either way I'll get what I want."

"Not this time." Nyreen said firmly.

Shepard sighed. "You all know that we can't do this alone, right?" The spectre pointed out. "Our only chance of getting Cerberus off this station is to work together."

The turian surprised her by agreeing. "You might be right, but the people of Omega are my priority."

"You take over one gang and think you know what's best for Omega?" Aria sounded amused. "Nyreen watch and learn."

She flicked on her Omni-tool. "Az?"

"Every things ready! The whole station is connected!" Az replied earnestly.

Shepard raised an eyebrow. What was Aria up to? That's when she noticed that every screen in the outpost was filled with her visage. A station wide broadcast. Shepard smirked and shook her head.

"People of Omega - I have returned!" Aria said loudly. "Cerberus believes they have beaten you, they believe they have you under control..."

The asari glanced at Nyreen, who looked completely disgusted with what she was doing.

"They are gravely mistaken."

She paused.

"You are the lawless of the galaxy. You cannot be beaten. And you will never be controlled!"

The asari pointed at the civilians on the balconies above.

"Be ready! You're chance to strike out against your oppressors is coming!"

Aria held her arms above her head.

"Together we will take Omega back!"

Shepard watched as the screens went back to nothingness. She looked around at the multitude of mercenaries who were watching, all of which were sporting looks of confidence on their faces. Aria's speech seemed to have inspired confidence in them.

But it seemed to be lost on Nyreen.

"That's your plan? Throw civilians at Cerberus?"

"Anything's better than them being locked up in cages like mindless animals waiting for slaughter." Aria said coldly.

"I know what you're up to Aria. And I don't like it." Nyreen turned away towards a group of civilians and talons on the floor below. "I have civilians to evacuate. I'll deal with this later."

Shepard watched her go before she looked at Aria. "What are you up to?"

Aria smiled. "Trying? The people of Omega - my people - love a good street fight. When it breaks loose, they'll be ready. Nyreen's code of ethics won't allow her to sit by while civilians are exposed. It's what makes her utterly predictable and therefore easy to manipulate."

"You aren't worried about your people?" Shepard asked.

The matriarch smirked. "Do you honestly think that I'd leave them unprotected? As we speak, Sapphire is doing her best to ensure their survival."

"She agreed to protecting the civilians?" Shepard wasn't sure she heard that correctly. "Civilians?"

Aria looked Shepard in the eye. "She volunteered."

* * *

Lauren turned off her Omni-tool with a smile on her face. Aria's speech was exactly what Omega needed.

"That's my girl."


	33. Chapter 33

Nyreen stood up and turned off her omni-tool, before leaving her dead agent on the floor. His injuries were too much for his already weakened body – hopefully he'd find a comforting embrace with the spirits now. She looked up at Shepard, who was staring at the casualties that Cerberus caused with a dark look. Nyreen had seen it before on her own commanding officer's face – Shepard was used to corpses, but still didn't like to see them.

That's when the woman's green eyes met hers.

"The talons will join your cause," Nyreen interrupted Shepard's thoughts about the dead.

The Spectre raised an eyebrow.

"Someone has to make sure you don't run rough shot over our people." Nyreen explained.

Shepard nodded in understanding. "I should inform you, Nyreen, someone is already watching over Omega's civilians."

That bit of information took Nyreen by surprise. She hadn't heard anything about that from her men.

"Sapphire volunteered to look out for their interests." Shepard said coolly. "So you don't have to come with us just because you're worried we'll kill civilians in the process – I won't allow it."

Aria came walking over, watching the two with interest.

Nyreen gave Aria a glance before looking at Shepard. "Then Omega's in good hands – Sapphire's proven a hundred times over to be more trustworthy with their welfare than others."

Aria narrowed her eyes at the turian, who just stared back. Shepard gave the two of them a steely look before clearing her throat.

"Good to have you aboard then." Shepard said as she filed away what Nyreen just said for a later discussion.

"One thing though – I maintain control over my people. This is not up for debate." Nyreen said directly to Shepard.

"Just make sure they're ready."

Nyreen nodded. "Oh, they will be."

"Good. Then let's move out," Shepard looked at the talons around them. "We're headed for D-Deck."

The mercenaries looked at Nyreen, who nodded reassuringly. They could follow Shepard's orders for now. But she was still in control.

It didn't take them long to reach D-Deck, finding almost no interference from any Cerberus agents. It alarmed Shepard slightly, but she knew what Petrovsky was up to. He had no chance if they kept slaughtering his men – they were an occupying force with no chance of being backed up at this point.

"We're almost there, Shepard." Aria said as they walked in the bunker. "With the talons on the front, all we need now is to take out the force fields to clear a way to afterlife."

"Which should release Omega's civilians," Shepard reminded her.

"Cerberus will have a million fires to put out – it won't matter if he's pulled his men back or not." Aria quipped back. "In one fell swoop we'll have the talons and the citizens to help us."

"Don't take the alliance with the talons lightly, Aria." Shepard crossed her arms. "They won't help us if we throw unarmed civilians at Cerberus on purpose."

"I've learned not to put too much stock in truth and goodwill."

"Then it might be a good time to start."

Aria narrowed her eyes. "You sound just like Sapphire. We need to plan our next move."

The asari turned on her heel and moved towards Az, who was standing at the console with a datapad in his hands.

"Talk to me, Az."

"We located the source of the force fields." Az informed her.

Shepard watched as the diagram of Omega lit up, pointing to a specific region in the upper part of the station.

"Ah, I see." Aria leaned back. "Shepard, take a look at this."

"I'm not an engineer, Aria." Shepard reminded her. "What am I looking at?"

"The general is siphoning power from one of my main reactors deep in the bowls of Omega's mines." Aria explained.

"Unfortunately, access to the mines is cut off by the force fields themselves." Az informed them.

Shepard noticed the markers on the diagram. "It's not complete – there's an access there." She pointed.

Aria tilted her head to get a look. "The processing plant for the mines…It's been powered down. No force field is blocking it."

"Then we go through there, find our way through the mine, and take that elevator to the reactor's back door." Shepard pointed out the route.

"Good eye, Shepard." Aria commented. "Let's go."

"Not without me." Nyreen walked up to the table.

Bray appeared. "We caught her at the perimeter."

"Please, you didn't catch me." Nyreen snorted. "We're allies now, didn't Aria tell you?"

"Nyreen was expected, Bray." Aria nodded reassuringly at the batarian. "Return to your station."

The batarian didn't move and instead held out a datapad. "This is for you." He said mechanically. "Sapphire left it after she and Az found the source."

Aria snatched the datapad from him. "That will be all, Bray."

Shepard let out a mental sigh of relief. Lauren was alive. She dreaded the idea of telling Hackett she'd gotten herself killed upon arriving at Omega.

"The talons are ready." Nyreen said informatively. "But if I'm sending my people into the breach, I want to make sure those force fields come down for good. So like it or not, you're stuck with me."

Aria crossed her arms, the datapad dangling from her hand. "It's almost as if you don't trust me."

The turian approached her, closing the gap between the two of them to tower over the shorter asari. "It's exactly as if I don't trust you."

Shepard stepped between the two of them. "We're at war together – I'll make sure we can trust each other, alright?"

Nyreen backed down first. "Agreed, Commander, glad one of you isn't on a power trip."

Aria shook her head and remembered the datapad in her hand.

"Please try to be civil," Shepard said to Nyreen. "I don't know about you, but I don't want to get thrown through a bulkhead."

"Shepard," Aria spoke up.

"What?" Both Nyreen and Shepard turned to look at the asari, who was staring at the datapad with an angry look on her face.

The asari held the datapad out to Shepard, who took it immediately.

_Powering down the force fields will require a bit of power re-routing. I'm headed to the reactor located in the mines via the processing plant and adjoining elevator. Meet you there. –S_

"You have got to be kidding me." Shepard muttered. "Looks like we'd better leave now – I'd hate to let her get there first."

"I have last minute orders to dole out," Aria looked at Az. "I'll meet you at the door by the medical bay."

Shepard nodded and headed off in that direction, followed closely by Nyreen. The turian suddenly cleared her throat.

"I was hoping we could talk, before we headed out." The turian said quietly. "Alone."

Shepard glanced over her shoulder at Aria before looking at Nyreen again. "Alright…" The spectre motioned for Nyreen to follow her towards a relatively empty space. "What is it?"

"I'm not trying to undermine, Aria." Nyreen said quietly. "I know she has to be ruthless. Let her have her revenge. I'm not doing this for me, Aria, or what we once had."

"I know," Shepard rubbed at her forehead. "It's for the people of Omega. I get it."

"Someone has to be their voice in all this." Nyreen leaned up against a pillar. "Powerful forces are about to do battle with them caught in the middle. I just hope that when we take those force fields down and go to war, you can keep the people in mind."

"I'll do my best, but you forget that Sapphire's working to protect them too." Shepard pointed out. "You said it yourself; Sapphire's proven to be trustworthy with their welfare."

"Sapphire is only trustworthy with their welfare and nothing else." The turian flicked her mandibles in irritation.

Shepard narrowed her eyes. "You don't trust her?"

"Not really. Sapphire is unpredictable, uncontrollable, and dangerously dedicated to her job." Nyreen shook her head. "She's not one to be trusted without expecting her to pull some stunt and end up killing a few people in the process."

"Yeah," Shepard shook her head. "That sounds like her."

Nyreen looked at Shepard curiously. "You've met Sapphire before?"

"I trained with her back in the Alliance."

The turian looked surprised. "She never once mentioned a military background. But it does explain a few things."

"Like what?"

"Her insane dedication and loyalty to this place," Nyreen gestured to the room. "Aria treats this place like a possession – Sapphire doesn't. She treats it like her home and protects it fiercely. She must have gotten that from the alliance."

Shepard nodded. "Protect what needs to be protected at whatever cost. It's a last ditch effort for a soldier with no other options or orders."

Nyreen nodded. "Explains why you humans never give up, either."

Shepard smiled. "We do tend to have a stubborn streak. Kind of rubs off when you work with us long enough."


	34. Chapter 34

Lauren slammed her fist into the Cerberus agent's face, sending him to the ground. She brought her pistol up immediately and fired a bullet into his head. His head had barely hit the ground when she turned around and raised her gun at the other agent that was getting up and fired again. A static charge from behind her made her turn again, only to see a blue singularity headed her way. She threw herself out of the way and hit the ground in a roll, coming up with her pistol aimed at the attacking biotic's head. She fired.

The biotic didn't drop dead immediately like she'd hoped.

"FUCKING-" That's when she noticed the blue charge around the biotic's body. "SHIT!"

Lauren dropped her pistol and ran to get out of the way, barely escaping the biotic's charge. She turned on her heel and ran, bolting down the hallway she was in as quickly as she could. A fatigued biotic was no match against one that was hopped up on stims. At least, that's what she hoped. Nothing was worse than facing off against a full powered biotic - stims meant they'd crash. Stims meant that they'd die quicker.

She felt a static charge at her back and dropped like a stone to avoid the singularity that was thrown at her. It slammed against the nearby wall and diminished. Lauren rolled over, freeing her assault rifle from her back and aimed quickly down her sights at the charging biotic and fired.

The biotic had no time to react quickly enough to save their shields, but he did have time to throw up a barrier to save himself from her fire. Lauren dropped her assault rifle and got onto her feet. The barrier dropped just as Lauren threw a nova at the biotic.

Personally, she hated novas with a passion. Sacrificing her barrier for a short blast attack was a very risky strategy. She made it a point to never use them unless she had no other option – to make sure that she never fell into the dangerous habit that got most biotics killed.

He had no chance. The moment the nova hit him, Lauren was charging at him, throwing her armored elbow directly into the man's face.

She didn't see how far his body went – quite frankly it didn't matter. There was not a single person that could survive the nova/charge combination. And even if he was still alive, she had her pistol out and ready.

Light weapons. Powerful high risk biotic attacks. Tactical thinking.

This was why the Alliance loved vanguards. They were a dangerous combination that only required fuel and a few days of downtime after a battle. Not as versatile as regular biotics, but much more precise.

Lauren picked up her assault rifle and put it back on her back. Her muscles ached, her implant stung, and every nerve ending in her body was on high alert. She glanced around and noticed his crumbled body in the corner by a pillar that he must have hit.

She walked over and scuffed his leg with her boot. He didn't move. He didn't look like he was breathing and there was a lot of blood by his ears.

"Can't be too careful," Lauren gripped her pistol and fired a shot into his chest.

"Well, he's certainly dead." A voice said from behind her.

Shepard.

Lauren didn't turn and look at her. "Biotic charges tend to that." She holstered her pistol. "You took your sweet ass time getting here."

"Tell that to Nyreen and Aria." Shepard sounded annoyed.

Lauren froze. _You have got to be kidding me._

"Any more Cerberus?" Shepard asked, not noticing that Lauren had frozen.

Lauren recovered. "No. I got the patrol that was sent up here. Wouldn't put it past him to have more outside the mines either – word is that there might be Adjutants inside the mine control room. But that might just be talk to keep the agents out."

"You overheard them?" Shepard asked.

"Yeah," Lauren pointed up at the rafters above. "I jumped down at them. Got the first four on the initial drop, sent them flying into the wall – got the next one with my pistol and a shockwave. Last one fought me."

"Nice job." Shepard looked over her shoulder. "Hurry up you two! Honestly, I know a krogan that move faster."

Aria came into view, followed by an irritated Nyreen.

Lauren narrowed her eyes at the turian, who stopped when she noticed the blonde.

"I thought," Lauren growled. "That I told you to get off Omega, Kandros."

The turian flicked her mandibles in irritation and was about to reply, when Aria cut her off.

"You knew about this?" The asari asked coolly.

"Of course I did," Lauren straightened her posture. "Nothing slips by me on Omega - not even Kandros. I thought you'd know that by now."

Shepard looked at Lauren like she'd never looked at her before. Was she seriously talking to Aria like that?

"To be honest, I don't pay enough attention." Aria walked forward and gave Lauren a cold glare. "Looks like I might have to. What have you got, Sapphire?"

Shepard looked at the two of them and then at Nyreen, who didn't look freaked out by the scene in front of her.

"-The mine is completely powered down. No way in." Lauren's talking caught Shepard's attention.

They were playing professional. Shepard could do that. "Why do you think it's powered down?"

"Either to keep us out," Lauren put her hands on her hips. "Or to keep something in."

"I don't like the sound of this." Shepard sighed. "Let's get this over with. I want off this place as soon as possible."


	35. Chapter 35

Shepard stared at the door to the mines. Obviously due to the lack of a green symbol, the damn thing was locked. She glanced at Aria, who just stared at her expectantly.

"Don't ever body move at once," Lauren muttered.

Shepard looked at the door again, noticing that Lauren was wedging her hand in the gap between the two parts of the door. Shepard stuck her hand in the upper part of the door and pulled, opening her side a few inches.

"Access to the mines should be on the far side." Aria said as she watched them.

"And the reactor is beyond that?" Nyreen asked.

Lauren did the same and they managed to open the door far enough for someone to squeeze in. Aria went first, followed by Nyreen and then Shepard. Lauren managed to wedge herself through and let the door slam shut behind them.

"According to the schematics. I ran Omega, I never worked the mines myself-"

Nyreen interrupted the asari before she could finish. "No, you had indentured servants for that."

"Nyreen," Lauren glared at the turian. "The miners signed legal contracts."

Shepard noticed the hostility in Lauren's voice. Obviously, this turian was more of an annoyance than a help to her.

"Why is she even here?" Lauren looked at Aria. "She's just going to get herself killed."

The human stalked past Nyreen and towards a dead body on the floor.

"Someone's been here." Shepard said as she walked over. There was dried blood all over the floor.

"Spirits..." Nyreen sounded faint.

"Relax," Aria leaned down next to the bodies. "They're all Cerberus."

"They've been ripped to shreds." Shepard looked at their torn armor, which was crusted with blood.

"I don't like this." Nyreen said quietly.

Lauren snorted and walked down the catwalk, pulling out her pistol. "The reactor is this way. We're looking for a control console."

The group followed her and down into a large room. Lauren walked off and left the trio standing in the middle, who were mostly inspecting the serious amount of damage to the room.

"Half these control panels are completely damaged." There was a loud thump as the power in the room came back on.

Aria could finally see the amount of damage a lot clearer. "When this is over there's going to be a lot of repairs to make." She commented glumly.

"I hope you'll focus on the civilian areas first." Nyreen commented.

"You are relentless." Aria looked somewhat annoyed to Shepard.

"That's one thing we have in common."

Lauren's head snapped up from the control console, alarming Shepard with the sudden movement. "Hey Nyreen - why don't you actually do something useful and check the damn doors?"

That's when the window exploded next to Aria.

"SPIRITS-"

Shepard watched in horror as a large creature landed on the floor and let out a shriek from hell. It held up an arm, which Shepard noticed was basically a cannon.

"FUCK - ADJUTANT!" Lauren pulled up her pistol and lit up with biotic energy. "KILL IT."

Both Shepard and Aria pulled out their guns and fired.

"Wake up, Nyreen!" Aria shouted at the turian.

Nyreen shook her head and pulled up her own gun, ducking out of the way of the Adjutants fire.

"What the fuck is that?" Shepard shouted.

"Adjutant!" Aria responded curtly as she dropped into cover across the room from Shepard.

Lauren threw a singularity at the adjutants feet. "Aim for the head and watch out for it's melee attacks!"

"Got it!" Shepard pulled up her gun and fired.

The Adjutant didn't even have a chance against four opponents, but it still went down fighting. When it's body hit the floor, Lauren was the first one to advance on it, firing six shots into the head to ensure it was dead. She'd fought them before and knew that they could get back up if you didn't make sure they were dead.

"That was easy." Shepard commented.

"Usually it's not," Aria replied. "You have to be careful when they're in packs - that's how they get you."

"Those corpses had severed necks." Lauren pointed out. "More than likely the Cerberus forces that retreated from here severed them to make sure they wouldn't turn into more."

"They infect people?" Shepard's stomach churned.

"Yeah. Corpses and living victims they chomp on." Lauren replied quietly. "Come on - we should get to the reactor."

* * *

_Been ill and working. I will have another chapter up tonight or early tomorrow morning. -I_


	36. Chapter 36

Shepard slammed her body against a crate, narrowly avoiding a singularity from the three adjutants in the cargo area. Aria was trapped by a console and Nyreen was off to her left - both of them firing at the unrelenting creatures.

A blue hue in front of Shepard caused the N7 some momentary panic, her brain automatically thinking it was one of the creatures, but she was calmed when she noticed it was Lauren, holding a barrier up to stop the singularities.

"SHEPARD!" The blonde shouted over her shoulder. "Got any grenades?!"

Shepard snatched a grenade from her belt and stood up, chucking the grenade at the creatures, who were clustered together just outside Lauren's barrier.

The resulting explosion was much larger than Shepard expected.

"Damn." Shepard peeked over the top of her cover. "What just happened?"

"Shockwave," Lauren grumbled as she picked herself off the floor. The force of the blast had knocked her off her feet - but her armor had taken most of the brunt - leaving her with just the wind knocked out of her lungs.

"Grenades plus shockwave equals high explosive." Shepard blinked. "Did you just come up with that?"

"Borrowed it," Lauren straightened herself up and jabbed a thumb at Aria. "Everyone okay?"

"We should keep moving." Nyreen's eyes darted around. "There might be more."

"Remind me to start carrying grenades." Aria commented to Lauren.

"Right - the reactor's this way." Lauren pointed towards a surface drill in the distance. "If we move our asses we can make it."

"Which one of us is taking down the barriers?" Shepard asked.

Lauren held out her Omni-tool. "I have the kill code. Or what I hope is the kill code."

Shepard stared at her. "That is not comforting."

"Do we have a back up plan if that doesn't work?" Nyreen asked skeptically.

Lauren looked at Shepard. "Deacon's still on call at the Normandy right?"

"Yeah..._Oh_." Shepard blinked. "Yeah. We can call him for help."

* * *

"Any noise from Shepard?" Deacon asked.

"No, nothing." Joker tapped on his controls. "It's quieter than when she-"

Deacon whacked Joker's chair. "Don't."

"What?"

"You'll jinx her." Garrus added from his spot in the cockpit.

Deacon looked at EDI. "How's Omega look?"

"Cerberus communications and mercenary communications stopped fifteen minutes ago and haven't started up again." EDI said. "I believe Petrovsky is attempting to keep new of Aria's insurrection from the Illusive Man."

Both Deacon and Garrus exchanged looks.

"What, like he's trying to prove he can keep control over Omega?" Garrus asked.

EDI shook her head. "The last transmission shed some light on it - the Illusive Man is thinking of...letting go of Petrovsky for failure to capture Miranda Lawson after she left the Normandy SR-2."

"So he's trying to prove he's still useful." Deacon narrowed his eyes. "Shepard should know about this."

"Shepard's probably busy shooting things." Garrus flicked his mandibles. "And I highly doubt that this changes the battlefield much."

"No, but it means Shepard can let Aria kill Petrovsky." Deacon looked at Joker. "Send her a message, tell her that Petrovsky does nothing for us. Aria can do what she wants."

"What?" Joker twisted around in his chair. "How do you figure that?"

"If the Illusive Man is close to killing him for incompetence, then he's already changed his organization to reflect that. Every base and every person he's spoken to about Cerberus is probably dead or moved, and every scrap of information he has is useless." Deacon held up three fingers. "Which means that we can only do three things with him."

"Which are?" Joker asked.

"Keep him in a cell, put him on trial, and wait for the Illusive Man to send an agent to kill him. It's better if Aria just kills him." Deacon turned to leave the cockpit. "I'll inform Hackett."

"I'll send a message to Shepard, then." Joker looked at Garrus. "Is he in a mood today or what?"

"He's worried." Garrus crossed his arms in front of him.

"So? We all are."

* * *

_Interrupted by a trip to the ER. Back and doing much better now. Expect random updates. -I_


	37. Chapter 37

Shepard stood underneath the reactor in a kind of shock. The thing was massive.

"I don't like this." Nyreen said quietly. "There's no one here."

Aria gripped her gun. "I can't hear anything either."

"This screams trap." Shepard warned. "Keep your eyes peeled."

Shepard's instinct was right - an orange barrier like the ones on the street surrounded them, cutting them off from the control panel.

"Fuck." Lauren muttered from behind Shepard. "Look around - projectors everywhere and a camera on the upper rail. He could see us coming." Lauren turned around. "Look."

Shepard turned and noticed the blue sphere immediately. It was the same tech that the Illusive Man had used. It stopped in front of Shepard and turned into the image of General Oleg Petrovsky.

"I commend you," Oleg said.

The man's image irked Shepard almost instantly. He was smug, confident, and standing like Shepard had no chance against him. Something deep down in her inner core rebelled. No wonder Aria wanted the man dead.

"Your plan of attack was impeccable."

Shepard didn't say anything but stared at the man. "You were right, he was expecting us."

"More like lured," Nyreen grunted.

Oleg gave the group a look over. "I knew the reactor would be the hard target. I gave you no choice but this route."

"Pity you're on the loosing side, Petrovsky." Shepard said calmly, lowering her rifle.

"I'm on humanity's side." The man replied haughtily. "You're the ones starting a war, for the glory of Aria."

"It's not a war if your side doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell." Lauren said calmly.

Oleg gave the biotic a cold stare. "Too bad the war is over."

"This isn't over until you're next of kin can't identify you!" Aria stepped forward.

"I love your bravado." Oleg's image turned. "But have the sense to know when you're beaten. You've been neutralized and left here to rot. You might as well give up."

"Never!" Aria spat out.

Shepard watched as the asari approached the barrier that trapped them.

"Aria, what are you thinking?" Shepard asked urgently.

"I'm not going out like this!" Aria's voice had a sense of distress in it.

"Aria don't-!" Nyreen walked over to stop her.

"Leave her!" Lauren called, pulling her pistol out of its holster.

The asari slammed her hands into the barrier. Shepard realized what she was doing - tearing the barrier apart with her biotics.

"What the hell is she trying to do?" Oleg sounded frantic. "Damn it, Aria. You're forcing my hand." The general growled. "We'll do it your way then."

Lauren held her pistol up. "Mechs!" She shouted.

Shepard noticed the mechs across from them. "Nyreen!"

The turian jumped into action, firing on the approaching mechs. "What about Aria?!"

"I've got it covered!" Lauren shouted. "Just keep them from advancing!"

Shepard noticed a barrier go up out of the corner of her eye. Good strategy, the spectre noted numbly as she fired on a mech. Protect the one creating an escape route while the others kept the mech's off.

"If they get too close," Shepard shouted as she fired on a mech. "I need you to send shockwaves!"

"Got it!" Nyreen shouted. "Cover me!"

The turian leaned out of cover and fired on a mech that was advancing on her. Shepard fired and took down another mech that was advancing from the left. From what she could see, there was an endless wave of mechs coming their way.

Shepard and Nyreen continued to fight - attempting to take the mechs out before they could get to Aria.

That's when Shepard realized some were dropping from the ceiling.

"Lauren! To your left!" Shepard shouted. "Be careful!"

Lauren pulled out her pistol and fired at the mech's approaching. When her pistol did nothing she pulled out her assault rifle and fired - taking down the two approaching mechs.

"I can't hold this much longer!" Aria shouted suddenly.

Shepard noticed the hole and fired at the approaching mechs as she ran for the hole. "Lauren, GO!" She shouted at the biotic.

The biotic threw herself through the hole and landed on the floor outside it. Shepard followed, landing painfully next to her.

Aria released her biotics and let the barrier shut. Nyreen grabbed her by the arm and hoisted her to her feet.

"Spirits, Aria. How did you know you could do that?" The turian asked as she fired at a mech.

"I didn't." Aria replied.

Shepard hoisted herself up to her feet and looked for Lauren, who was already on her feet and shooting at the mechs that had turned away from the barrier and were headed for them.

"I've got the mechs, Shepard!" Lauren shouted. "Get to the control panel!"


	38. Chapter 38

Shepard looked at the control panel in confusion. She had never been trained to override a reactor. A door, sure! She could do that - when Deacon walked her through it. But a reactor?

This was a first.

She began typing, pulling up the controls. The panel was locked and spat out lines of code at her.

"Fuck me," She grunted and tapped on her Omni-tool. Communications weren't blocked and she tapped the Normandy's channel almost immediately.

The image of Oleg appeared at her side. "You can't do this commander!" He sounded angry.

Shepard ignored him and waited for her connection to the Normandy to turn green - the signal that the channel was open.

"There's more at stake here than you know!" Oleg continued.

"Fuck off, Oleg!" Lauren shouted at the hologram as she fired on a mech.

Shepard's earpiece buzzed to life. "Need something, Commander?" Joker's voice asked.

"Connect me to Deacon, now!" Shepard shouted.

Oleg continued to rant on next to her. Shepard already knew the life support was connected to the reactor - that's why she had to bypass it.

"What's wrong?" Deacon's voice asked in her ear.

"I have to bypass a reactor without killing everyone on Omega," Shepard explained quickly. "And quickly, there's not a lot of time."

"Make a hard connection, EDI be prepared to receive information from the reactor and hardwire it through this terminal." Deacon said urgently.

Shepard plugged her Omni-tool onto the screen. "What do I do?" She asked frantically.

"Alright...Got it! Do exactly as I tell you!"

A shot went off by Shepard's head. The spectre's nerves went on high alert. "What the fuck!?"

"SORRY!" Lauren shouted.

"Nyreen watch your flank!" Shepard's short range lit up. "Hurry up Shepard!"

Oleg continued to talk, thinking that Shepard had no idea who Aria was.

Shepard did know who Aria was - a cold, ruthless, and powerful asari that was married to one of her best friends. She already knew that Aria didn't care if thousands of people on the station died - she already knew that Nyreen was shouting at her to reroute the power.

Deacon's voice walked her through bringing up the terminal code that would allow Lauren to plug in the kill code that would re-route the power and controls to the bunker.

"Just overload the reactor!" Aria suddenly said into the comm. "Or do something quick!"

"Get the terminal up! And I'll do the rest!" Lauren shouted.

"Nyreen's down!" Aria said in a panic. "I've stabilized her-"

"Plug in the code now!" Deacon said in her ear.

"Lauren!" Shepard shouted. "NOW!"

The biotic ran over, abandoning her fight with a mech. She pulled up her Omni-tool and plugged into the control panel.

The reactor panel suddenly turned blue.

Oleg's image stopped talking and looked at the reactor, a look of panic on his face.

The reactor made a noise and emitted steam from several of its couplings. The station shook as the power was successfully rerouted to the bunker, the barriers disappearing on the streets.

Omega was free.

Shepard felt a swell of rebellious pride. "We did it - the reactor's rerouted."

Lauren's radio sparked to life. "Sapphire - the stations green across all boards! The civilians are loose and taking out the operatives in the streets! Orders?"

Lauren put her hand up to her ear. "Keep the covered and take out every operative across the station."

Shepard looked at her.

There was a cold expression on Lauren's face that Shepard had never seen before.

"I want no survivors."

* * *

Petrovsky moved away from his control panel, which had turned black. Omega was in their control now.

"So be it." The man growled. "All units; battle stations. Prepare for attack."

He paused. "Get the demolition crews into position."

* * *

Lauren stood at the reactor console, keeping her eyes glued to the numbers running across the screen. She could hear Shepard and Nyreen behind her taking out the last of the mechs and operatives that had been routed to stop them.

Aria threw a shockwave at the last operatives and knocked them back, allowing Nyreen to shut the door to the control room.

"You okay?" Shepard asked Aria, who looked winded.

"Despite your best efforts to kill me?" Aria asked. "I told you to hurry - you almost cost me everything."

"Quiet, Aria. It worked. Shepard saved us without sacrificing innocent lives. I applaud her." Nyreen stood at Shepard's side.

"I suppose." Aria gave the turian a cold glare. "Whatever."

"I hate to say it, Nyreen. But you fought bravely against the mechs in there. Very impressive."

"But?" Nyreen sensed the word.

"Why can't you bring that same grit when the adjutants attack?" Aria demanded, crossing her arms. "It's pathetic. You tense up at the mere mention of those abominations."

Shepard narrowed her eyes. "Lay off, Aria. She just saved you."

"I'm trying to help her, Shepard. Call it tough love." Aria retorted.

"Before the two of you get into it," Lauren called from the console. "We still have a war to fight, _asana._"

Shepard frowned at the word, her translator unable to process it. Nyreen seemed to know what the word meant and looked somewhat taken back.

Lauren walked over towards the stairs that led out. "I've locked the reactor controls. He can't hold the civilians hostage anymore."

Shepard walked after her. "Let's move."

They walked out to the elevator that would lead them down to the main levels. Lauren used her Omni-tool to open the door and walked inside, hitting the button for the upper level with her fist.

"I've keyed our Omni-tools to unlock all the doors on the station." Lauren said quietly. "Consider it a gift." She said in Nyreen's direction as she slumped against the elevator door.

Nyreen walked inside, her Omni-tool on. "I'm getting reports."

Shepard stood across from the turian while Aria walked over to Lauren with a look of concern on her face.

"What do they say?" Shepard asked.

"All force fields down. Civilians taking to the streets in droves. Cerberus pulling back." Nyreen suddenly frowned. "Civilians are armed..?"

Lauren had a knowing smile on her face.

"You armed them, didn't you?" Nyreen asked angrily.

"So what if I did?" The biotic said calmly. "They deserve to fight for their home too, Nyreen."

"The people don't have the training to go up against Cerberus front lines. They'll be wiped out!" Nyreen sounded panicked - afraid.

"Nyreen," Lauren sighed. "These are Omega's people we're talking about. They've survived to this point - besides - some casualties can't be avoided now."

"Accept it." Aria said from her spot. "Some people are going to die."

"I won't allow senseless deaths!" Nyreen retorted hotly.

Shepard looked at Nyreen. "Do what you can to protect them."

"Of course, Commander." Nyreen said with a nod.

The turian gave Aria and Lauren a cold stare.

"Aria? Bray here." Aria's radio sparked.

"Report." Aria said plainly.

"My teams is scouting the maintenance tunnels. We've encountered Cerberus forces escorting engineers." Bray said.

"The ones from life support that were taken." Lauren straightened up.

"They're moving gear. Look to be setting explosives to the station's central support columns."

Aria stalked to the elevator control panel. "Bray, engage! Delay them as long as you can, we're coming!"

"Got it, roll out people!" Bray's voice faded and Aria's radio went silent.

The elevator suddenly jolted.

"If they detonate the main column, they'll cut off the way to Afterlife! The Talon offensive will be stopped cold!" Aria looked at Shepard in alarm.

"So we split up." Shepard understood what the asari was saying.

"I'll go in the tunnels." Lauren pulled out her assault rifle. "And head for the engineers. If I can release them they can help us stop the bombs."

Shepard nodded. "Make sure you go fast." She said to the biotic.

"I'm going to have to put holes in the walls." She said apologetically.

Aria sighed. "They can be fixed. Nyreen, lead the frontal assault. Shepard and I will meet you in the markets after we've taken out the other bombs."

"Of course, but don't count of me building your memorials if you get yourself killed." Nyreen responded.

Aria stared at the door. "I like you a lot more when you're feisty." She said to Nyreen.

Lauren grunted as the door opened and sped out with Shepard on her heels. Nyreen headed off in her own direction, headed for her own forces.

"Care to explain to me what that was?" Lauren asked Aria.

"What are you talking about?" Aria responded.

"You were _flirting_ with her."

"This coming from the woman that slipped the word _asana _into a sentence earlier."

Lauren smiled. "I just wanted her to know that you belong to me."

Shepard grunted. "So I take it Lauren's the husband in this relationship?"

Lauren started laughing and Aria smacked the human on the arm.

"Aren't you supposed to be headed for the engineers?" She demanded.

Both Shepard and Aria watched as Lauren sped off for the maintenance entrance ahead and disappeared in the tunnels. Shepard followed Aria, who was headed the opposite direction.

"Keep up, Shepard!"

* * *

Deacon tapped on the console in the cockpit.

"Sounds like the fight is heating up." Garrus watched Joker fidget in the pilot's chair. "I can't wait to hear what Aria does to Petrovsky. Did you tell Shepard that the man's not an asset?"

"I did. She seemed relieved." Deacon said casually. "Remind me to teach her how to use decoding protocols when she gets back."

"That'll be like teaching an elcor to dance." Joker responded from the pilot's chair. "She can barely hack a door."

"If you call bashing the panel with a shotgun, hacking."

Garrus snickered from his spot. "I loved that mission. She was so frustrated."

Deacon laughed, despite the fact that he knew he shouldn't. Shepard had been so pissed off the entire time they were on that pitiful planet fighting Jedore. She had gotten so angry that she threw her shotgun at the woman when she ran out of ammunition.

"That was a great day - we even got our own krogan." He said wistfully.

"Yeah," Garrus said loftily. "I wonder how grunt's doing."

"Better than Shepard's doing, that's for sure." Joker tapped on his console. "Never heard her so panicked before. What did she ask for?"

"Help rerouting power on Omega's main reactor."

Garrus made a chittering noise that Deacon knew was his equivalent of whistling. "Fight's heating up now. What'd I give to be there..."

"You and me both, big guy."


	39. Chapter 39

Omega was one hell of a maze. It was built by adding on corridor after corridor back when the eezo was first mined, which created a station that was perfect for ambushes. Aria had left Lauren several times in the tunnels and expected her to make it out on her own, a feat that usually took several hours. The training paid off though, giving Lauren an internalized map of Omega.

"Bray - which corridor are you in?" Lauren said into her comm.

Bray didn't answer immediately. "Seven-Five-One-Two!"

Seven meant the seventh corridor from the top, five sections out from the center, one meant it was left, and two told her that they were near a maintenance shaft.

Lauren turned left at the end of the corridor she was in and lit up her biotics. She should be able to see the Cerberus agents right around this corner...

"BEHIND US!" An operative shouted.

She grinned a threw a shockwave, sending the operative flying into his teammate. With her other hand she brought up her pistol and fired at another. Bray and his men focused their fire on the men far from her, leaving the ones clustered around the engineers to her mercy.

Lauren threw her arm out and threw another operative across the room and away from the engineers. The engineers were cowering with their hands above their heads, making it much easier to target the men around them. No doubt they learned this during their time working at the reactor core - every civilian knew how to protect themselves from the various mercenaries that ran unchecked across the station.

An operative rushed at her, an Omni-blade drawn. Lauren was forced to move out of his way and threw as much of her weight as she could towards her left side and hit the ground rolling, only to come up with a singularity ready to send the man flying into a wall.

Bray brought up his assault rifle and fired, killing the last operative standing by the engineers. He looked for Lauren and found her firing a bullet into an operatives head.

"Clear!" He shouted.

The biotic walked away from the corpse and walked towards the group. "Which one of you designed the bombs?" She asked loudly.

No one moved at first. A salarian raised his hand.

"Come here." She holstered her pistol and brought out her Omni-tool. "Show me exactly how to defuse them. And then where Petrovsky would have to place them to blow Omega up."

The salarian nodded and started tapping away on her Omni-tool. He knew who she was and wasn't about to argue with her. That, and Omega was set to explode.

"He'll have locked off the consoles that control the bombs, but here is how to manually disable them." He drew up a diagram hastily. "And here's where he had us plant them." He brought up her map of Omega.

Lauren studied it for a second. Most of the bombs were clustered at the upper level part of the central structure. Aria and Shepard would be able to deal with all of them. She forwarded the files from her Omni-tool to Aria's and Shepard's. There was nothing she could do about the bombs now.

"Good. Bray, get them to the bunker and then get to the front lines." She ordered. "I'm headed for the rendezvous point in the markets to meet with what's left of my forces."

"Understood." Bray said with a nod. "We'll join up with Aria's forces in section two and lead the assault there."

He watched the human turn and look at the ceiling.

"Four, three, two, five." Lauren muttered. She brought her hand up and turned on her comm. "Nyreen, you there?"

..."A little busy - what is it?" The turian responded hastily.

"Where are the civilian casualties the most at the moment?" Lauren asked.

"Sector 6!" Nyreen said. "Four, five, two, one!"

Bray narrowed his eyes. "What are you thinking, Sapphire?"

The biotic moved towards the end of the hallway. "I'm going to punch a hole through Cerberus on my way there - give the civilians some relief. Get your ass moving, Bray. I'd hate to be the one throwing you out the airlock after all this over."


	40. Chapter 40

"The bombs are on the support columns?" She hissed at Aria as they clambered up the catwalks.

"Yes," Aria grunted.

Shepard noticed something at the bottom of the ladder. It looked like...a couch? "Is that your couch?"

Aria looked down from the top of the catwalk. "I was wondering where that went." She noted glumly.

"Looks like all that's left to do is stop Petrovsky," Shepard said as she looked around. "Nothing down here." She began the climb up again, disappointed that she'd climbed hallway down for nothing except a damn couch.

Aria's Omni-tool beeped ominously. "What the hell does she think she's doing?" The asari hissed.

Shepard looked at Aria. "What's happening now?"

"It's nothing...I guess I should have expected it." Aria walked towards a nearby doorway. "She did warn me that she'd go through a wall."

"Is that a tax-deductible repair?" Shepard said as she looked around.

The asari groaned. "I _wish_. She's been blowing things up and going through walls since the moment she arrived on this station all those years ago, and I don't think she's going to be satisfied until she's put holes in every part of the station."

Shepard chuckled. "You do realize that you signed up for this."

"I know," Aria brought up her gun. "I just wish she was a little more...restrained."

There was a noise from ahead.

"Guardians!" Shepard ducked. "Take them out!"

It didn't take them too long, though Shepard's mind was focused on something else.

Aria walked to a nearby door. "There's something over here."

Shepard looked at the equipment. "Nothing special."

She moved away and towards a door. "It's locked."

"I got it." Shepard smirked. "I know how to unlock doors."

"Lauren warned me about this," Aria snorted. "You sure you've got this?"

The Spectre looked at the lock and nodded. "Yeah - its easy."

Shepard turned on her Omni-tool and started working on the door.

Aria looked around. "It's quiet down here."

"Have you ever been down here before?" Shepard asked.

She shook her head. "I never go into the superstructure. Usually I send someone else, like Lauren, to deal with things down here."

"You send her on errands?"

"More like we negotiate." Aria said casually.

Shepard stood up, the door unlocked. "What does she get out of errands?"

"Come on Shepard, I know you're not that narrow minded." Aria walked past her and through the door way.

It took her a few seconds to get it.

"I could have gone my whole life without thinking about that."

Aria shook her head. "We're married, Shepard. What do you think we're doing in our spare time?"

Shepard looked ahead of them. "Alright, looks like we'll have to take out those fans to get to the platforms."

"There's an access panel."

Aria's omni-tool went off. "The bombs just went live!" She said in alarm. "The consoles locked!"

"And that's not all – look!" Shepard pointed up. "Incoming!"

Aria readied her assault rifle. "Fuck!"

Shepard booked it towards the nearest bomb and fired her rifle at the operatives in front of her. They only had a few minutes to get to every single bomb or this could very well be her last excursion on Omega.

Her last mission ever.

_No, stop it, Shepard. _She chided herself as she ran. _We'll get through this and then we'll get more assets and new crew member._

She reached the first bomb with little difficulty and punched in the deactivation code that would turn it off, and then yanked out the wire that would disable it permanently.

"Reminder to self," She grunted as she got back to her feet and ran for the next bomb. Her knees ached. "Do more squats in the Normandy."

There was a sudden explosion of blue somewhere off to her left and Shepard looked up, afraid that it was an adjutant. It turned out to be Aria, who was launching a very aggressive attack against most of the Cerberus forces. Shepard kept going and ran towards the next bomb, noticing that most of the forces were focused on Aria.

She ripped out the wire on each bomb as she ran and then made her way back towards Aria, firing at every agent that Aria hadn't killed. When she reached the asari, she noticed that the woman was crouched by a nearby control panel.

"We're clear." Shepard droned at her.

"Good," Aria said flatly. She put her fingers up to her communicator. "Nyreen, things are under control here. What's your situation?"

"We're advancing through the Gozu District." Nyreen responded.

The two of them could hear gunfire.

"Move forward! Keep that flank covered!" Nyreen's voice was muffled. "We're holding our own, but Cerberus has started targeting the civilians. Reports of casualties are coming in from all sectors."

Lauren's voice suddenly came from Shepard's communicator. "Commander? You there?"

Shepard thumbed her own mic. "What is it?"

"I can't reach Nyreen – tell her that I've got most of the civilians headed back for the lower sections – some of them are wounded." Lauren said quickly. "My men are escorting them and taking their positions along the front lines – sectors four, five, and six are clear of civilians!"

"Right." Shepard looked at Aria, who'd heard.

"Nyreen, Sapphire's cleared sectors four, five, and six of civilians. Sapphires men will handle taking the civilian's positions on the front line. Save those that you can, and head for the rendezvous point. We'll meet you there." Aria barked into her radio.

"Thank the spirits – we'll do what we can. Nyreen out!"

Shepard thumbed her radio. "Nyreen got the message – head for the rendezvous point - Shepard out."

"Understood." The communication channel dropped.

"Now how do we get to Afterlife from here?" Shepard asked Aria.

Aria straightened herself up. "I'm thinking the straight forward approach…for a change."

The asari lit up with biotics and launched a singularity at a fan across the room, which exploded and came to a screeching halt, exposing a door.

"After you," Shepard said in awe.

The asari jumped across the gap. Shepard followed, landing unsteadily on her feet. When she looked up she noticed that Aria had already unlocked the door and was climbing up a ladder. Shepard hurried after her, securing her assault rifle on her back and clambered up the ladder.

That's when she heard the sound of crunching glass. Shepard looked to her right and noticed a trio of Cerberus troopers getting attacked by an Adjutant – make that massacred – and thrown around a small room. One of them got thrown against the window.

Shepard flinched and climbed up the ladder faster. The last thing she wanted was to be seen by one of those…_things_.

They continued down the catwalk and down a ramp, where they came across a room. Shepard noticed the datapads and video logs around the room. She copied the info to her omni-tool to read later. Some of it could prove useful against Cerberus later, especially with the news from Deacon that Petrovsky wasn't going to be of any use.

Of course, Shepard didn't like hearing that at all, but she was kind of glad. She wouldn't have to take him for questioning and piss off all of Omega in the process. The last thing she wanted to do was loose an ally and a safe haven.

Aria opened the door and walked through it into the Gozu District.

BOOM. Shepard got thrown back by the force of an exploding grenade. She grunted and looked up, noticing some assault troopers and a nemesis. A slam of metal made her cringe – an atlas was dropping on her right.

She grabbed Aria by the arm and pulled her back through the doorway and into cover. The asari fired off a few shots at one of the troopers and downed his shield, leaving Shepard with an opening to kill him.

"This is not going to be easy," Aria grunted as the Nemesis started firing on them.

Shepard reloaded her rifle. "No, it's not. See any way we can turn this in our favor?"

Aria stuck her head out from behind the doorway and instantly pulled back. "There's a ladder on the far end – think you can run for it?"

Shepard looked and noticed what she was talking about. The ladder led up to a catwalk. But there was still the problem of people between them and the ladder.

"Can you distract them?" Shepard asked.

Aria fired her rifle. "You had better run fast, I have no intentions of dying for you."


	41. Chapter 41

_SPOILER AND EMOTIONAL ALERT: The following chapter contains spoilers for Mass Effect 3: Invasion DLC._

* * *

The elevator door opened and Aria stepped out, followed closely by an armored figure that the guards recognized instantly as Commander Shepard.

"Where's Nyreen?" Shepard demanded.

"Scouting ahead. We've got our hands full holding this area." The guard responded.

Aria's blood went cold. "She's going on to Afterlife!" The asari shouted as she ran past the barricade.

Shepard booked ass after her. "Why is it that no one follows orders on this fucking station!?"

* * *

"NYREEN!" Lauren screamed at the top of lungs from her spot across the courtyard. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

The turian ignored her.

That's when Lauren noticed the adjutants advancing on the civilians outside Afterlife's entrance.

_No._ The woman's blood stopped cold. Nyreen was running right towards them.

Lauren dropped from the beam she was on and fired her pistol at one of the adjutants. Nyreen was headed right for them.

"NYREEN!" The biotic shouted. "BEHIND YOU!"

The turian turned and noticed the adjutants behind her. She looked briefly terrified, but then her face went still and cold. Lauren knew that look. It was the look on a lot of people when they realized that they were about to die.

"RUN!" Lauren shouted, ducking behind a pillar as an adjutant fired at her.

Nyreen snatched up a string of grenades off a nearby Cerberus corpse. She pulled the string and flung them to her left and then pulled up a biotic barrier, trapping the adjutants in it.

* * *

Shepard and Aria ran into the courtyard just as Nyreen erected a barrier around herself and the adjutants. They could see Lauren running towards the barrier, firing her pistol wildly at one of the adjutants.

"NO!" The biotic shouted.

Nyreen seemed to look in Lauren's direction and then in theirs, her mandibles twitched up into a weary smile.

The grenades went off, exploding inside the barrier.

Lauren stopped and looked at Afterlife with a look of fury, while Aria stopped cold at the edge of the burning bodies of the adjutants. And Nyreen.

"Aria-"

Aria ran towards Afterlife, leaving Shepard and Lauren to run after her.

"Damn it!" Shepard growled. "What is she doing?!"

They ran inside and stopped behind Aria, who was staring around Afterlife with a murderous look on her face.

That's when they heard him.

"Nyreen Kandros was a good soldier. It's a shame she had to die for your petty ambitions." Petrovsky was standing on the upper balcony.

"YOU'RE A DEAD MAN!" Aria shouted, running at him lit up with biotic energy.

"ARIA NO!" Lauren ran after her.

"WAIT!" Shepard shouted, noticing what was set up in the middle of the room.

Aria jumped before they could stop her, getting caught in a biotic barrier. The asari let out a cry of frustration as it held her.

"Aria!"

Shepard grabbed Lauren by the back of her armor. "Barrier field - you can't do anything!"

The biotic looked furious. "What now, you sick bastard?" She shouted at Petrovsky.

"Divide and conquer." The man responded coldly.

He tapped on a console. "Kandros killed the adjutants we hadn't finished experimenting on...These are fully under our control...the prototypes for our future army."

An orange barrier lit up around his balcony, while a door below opened. Adjutants walked out, unleashing screeches that set every nerve in Shepard's body on alert.

"MOVE!" Shepard shouted at Lauren.

The biotic pulled out her assault rifle and dove for cover. Shepard ran for a pillar on her left.

"We need a plan!" Shepard fired at a trooper. "How do you take down a barrier field?!"

"Why are you asking me?" Lauren sounded panicked. "Do I look like an engineer?!"

"Hold the perimeter! Keep them away from the generators!" Petrovsky ordered.

Shepard and Lauren looked at each other.

"Let's move it!" Shepard leaned out of cover and fired.

"Right!" Lauren ran past her, taking advantage of the cover Shepard provided.

Shepard fired a few more shots and ran up a nearby staircase after her. She could see the biotic at a console nearby, her hands furiously tapping at a console.

"The generator is shielded - there are override consoles on the wall!" She shouted.

Shepard ran past her and fired at the shield generator that turned red. It exploded.

"One down!"

"You can't stop me so easily!" Aria shouted from her spot, sending out a biotic pulse that sent Shepard into a nearby wall and Lauren to the floor.

"DAMN IT ARIA!" Shepard shouted.

Lauren scrambled to her feet and threw a shockwave at an approaching adjutant. "SHEPARD MOVE!"

The spectre dodged an attack and dropped a grenade on the floor before running to some nearby cover. The explosion knocked down the adjutant's barrier. Shepard brought up her rifle before it had to chance to re-orient itself and fired, taking down the creature's armor.

Lauren joined in and together they brought the creature to the floor. Another one came from behind them, lunging at the two of them.

"Find the next console!" Shepard shouted at her friend as she ran.

"Right!" Lauren ran. "It looks like they're all on the outer edges!"

"That means we can get boxed in if we're not quick and careful!" She fired off more rounds at a Cerberus trooper.

Lauren slammed another trooper into the wall. Her nervous system and muscles were screaming against the strain - she couldn't last much longer. Shepard was beginning to realize how exhausted she was feeling, but the adrenaline was keeping her going.

Aria wasn't faring much better either - the asari let out a scream from her prison. Obviously, they didn't have much time until she was gone.

"We have to hurry!" Lauren shouted as she approached another console, slamming her fist into the panel.

Shepard turned around and fired at the shield generator. "Another down!"

"This way!"

The duo ran for the next console, dodging heavy fire from the adjutants as they attempted to keep the two of them in their sights. Petrovsky watched from his own balcony, somewhat agitated with his forces.

"Stop them!" He shouted at a cluster of assault troopers and a nemesis. "I want the two of them dead!"

"IN YOUR DREAMS PETROVSKY!" Aria shouted.

Another biotic pulse rocked the room, knocking many of the Cerberus troopers off their feet. Lauren and Shepard fired at them as they bolted across the room towards another override console.

This time though, two adjutants stood waiting for them.

Shepard reached out and shoved Lauren into the wall and out of the way of an incoming barrage of the adjutants. She took the brunt of it, loosing most of her shields as she charged them, firing her assault rifle.

Lauren recovered and raced after her, throwing a singularity at the one that was aiming at Shepard, making the creature stumble into its companion.

Shepard pulled out a grenade a threw it. "GRENADE!"

Her comrade understood and threw a shockwave with the grenade, which exploded and took down the last of the adjutants' armor, leaving them open for Shepard to kill.

"Nice thinking!" Lauren said into her comm as she slammed her hand against yet another console. "Shield's down!"

"Got it!" Shepard ran down the stairs and into a position where she could see the shield generator and fired.

"OMEGA'S MINE!" Aria set off another pulse.

This time the two of them were prepared for it - bracing themselves against it.

"There's one left!" Shepard shouted. "Find it!"

Lauren raced after Shepard, who was firing at a Cerberus trooper that was unlucky enough to be in her way. Lauren threw as much biotics as she could at the others, sending them flying into each other as she ran.

Her assault rifle jammed, leaving the biotic to secure it to her back and bring her hands up to the standard defensive position. Shepard was too busy engaging another adjutant to notice that her comrade had stopped to unleash her merciless fury on the cluster of Cerberus troopers.

That was until a body went crashing into the adjutant and prevented it from lunging at her.

Shepard was taken back. "Holy mother of-"

That's when she noticed the last console.

"Go to the last console!" Lauren shouted, throwing herself onto the floor to avoid a concussive round. "I got this!"

Shepard didn't have to be told twice. She wanted this fight over. She wanted to go back to the Normandy, back to her friends, back to the only place that she'd ever really called home.

She extended her hand and slammed it into the console. She turned on her heel and raced back down the stairs, reaching for a grenade on her belt.

The explosion destroyed the last shield generator, releasing Aria from her prison.

"I'm back you fuckers!" Aria announced as she charged a group of Cerberus troopers and proceeded to tear them to pieces.

Gunfire and explosions erupted all around them. The three of them charged at the enemies closest to them, mercilessly killing everything in their way.

Aria was the only one being vocal about it, enjoying herself as she took her revenge and anger out on the helpless troopers.

An concussive round went off near Lauren's left, which sent her flying backwards into a wall. The blonde let out a pained grunt and rolled onto her side, sending a singularity at the trooper that fired the concussive shot at her.

Just when it seemed that there was, in fact an end to the enemies, Petrovsky's voice rang out amongst the quieting battleground.

"Attention! All Cerberus forces surrender!"

Shepard kicked the last trooper she was facing in the head, sending him into a wall and killing him. "What did he just say?" She thumbed her mic. "Did he just surrender?!"

"This might be a trick," Lauren sounded winded.

"Or he knows that he's beaten." Aria said coldly.

"Either way," Shepard grunted as she walked across the room with her rifle still aimed up. "This bastard is yours, Aria."

There was a second of silence.

"Good."


	42. Chapter 42

Petrovsky approached his console and tapped a few keys. "Cease and desist all aggression. It's over." He said over the override channel.

He had failed.

Omega was back in Aria T'Loak's hands and under the watchful eye of Sapphire T'Loak. He was wrong. He shouldn't have taken the threat lightly at all when the battle first started.

But that wouldn't change anything now.

He had to hope that Shepard would take him into custody for questioning. He didn't want to think about what would happen to him if Shepard allowed Aria to tend to his punishment for taking over her station.

Her revenge would involve his death, and quite frankly, he didn't want to die.

He heard footsteps and looked down, noticing the trio as they stalked up the stairs. Petrovsky turned off his chess board and took a deep breath, gathering what was left of his wits about him before he turned around.

Shepard was the first person he saw.

The woman didn't fail to disappoint. She looked stoic and calm, as her files had read. Strands of her dark brown hair lay in front of her dirt and blood stained face. Her green eyes were cold as she examined him.

"Commander Shepard, I surrender myself into your custody." He said quickly.

The woman's face didn't change as she examined him.

"You're barking up the wrong tree, Petrovsky." Shepard sounded disgusted. "I already know that you don't know a damn thing about what's going on beyond Omega."

Petrovsky's heart stopped.

"Aria, he's your problem."

The asari approached him, her bondmate a few steps behind her.

Shepard watched as the man's eyes widened in fear and uncertainty. So he'd hoped that she'd stop Aria from taking her revenge - from killing him.

Aria slapped the man with her biotics and sent him to the ground.

"I'm unarmed!" Petrovsky sounded terrified. "I can provide intel on what I know about the Illusive Man!"

"You'll say anything to save your skin," Aria sneered as she picked the man off the floor by the throat and slammed him onto his console. She wrapped her hands around his neck and began to squeeze it - crushing his windpipe.

"But - I - let you escape - I deserve mercy!" He gasped out, his hands attempting to remove Aria's hands from his neck.

The asari's grip was tight.

"Is that true?" Shepard looked at Lauren. She hadn't heard this part of the story.

"Cerberus had already secured this station and he let us go." Lauren said coldly.

"Do you feel that Oleg?" Aria said quietly as she put more pressure on his windpipe. "That's death, only inches away."

"This is for every death on this station that your organization caused," Lauren stood at Aria's side. "For Anto, Liselle, and Nyreen."

Petrovsky's gasps for air got louder.

"But - this is - murder!" He choked out.

"No less than you deserve." Lauren's voice set the hairs on the back of Shepard's neck up. "Cerberus bastard."

Shepard looked away, not wanting to watch what would become of the general. It was a pity, but the man didn't know anything. The encryptions that EDI hacked off the station when Shepard had plugged in her Omni-tool the first time confirmed it. He was just a man with a dead army that happened to kill thousands of people on Aria's station. There would be no justice in taking up the Alliance's time. Not when it was so precious.

However, she didn't approve of killing him.

That's when something surprised her.

"Remember that feeling, Oleg." Aria suddenly said. "Because I'm letting you go."

Shepard turned on her heel.

Lauren walked away from the table, disappointment on her face. Aria straightened herself up.

"Get this filth off my station and out of my sight." She gave Oleg a kick to the ribcage.

Shepard raised an eyebrow as a turian and batarian handcuffed the General. "I thought you wanted to kill him?"

Aria looked at Shepard. "You are a disease. And so was Nyreen."

She understood immediately. Nyreen had gotten to her.

"You've got good control, Shepard." Aria continued. "I know it's hard to resist that impulse...I've been waiting to kill that man for months."

"The Alliance doesn't have any use for him if he doesn't know anything." Shepard said calmly.

"The Alliance may not have use for him, but I think the Council might." Aria looked at Lauren. "They sent me a message when they learned of it."

Shepard looked at her friend, who looked rather pissed. Lauren didn't answer but looked away.

"This was your plan all along, wasn't it?" Shepard asked. "Capture him and hand him over to the consulate?"

"They'll execute him for his crimes on Thessia alone." Aria sounded satisfied.

Lauren moved away to talk to Bray, who was nearby.

Aria looked at the people cheering to themselves on the lower floor. "Thanks to you, I have Omega back."

"So what's the plan?" Shepard asked.

Aria looked sullen for a moment. "There's a lot to rebuild. Starting with this...command center. It may take some time to remove the general's _stink_ from my throne...I wonder if I'll even enjoy the pole dancing in here again."

Shepard heard a snort from behind her.

"The citizens of Omega have been through a lot, Aria. Try to remember that." Shepard reminded her.

"How can I forget? There are reminders everywhere I look - hell I married someone who will bug the hell out of me everyday about that alone." She paused. "And don't worry, I'm still going to honor our arrangement."

A huge weight came off Shepard's shoulders.

"-Troops, ships, and a mountain of eezo. You earned it." Aria crossed her arms.

"Then I'll be going."

"Lauren will make the arrangements for those things when she joins you on the Normandy. She and Bray will take you back." Aria looked at the console in front of her.

Shepard stopped in her tracks. "Joins me on the Normandy?"

"Your job offer was very compelling. And I doubt they'll be much work for her here with all this construction going on." Aria smirked. "She'll go crazy."

"And I have no doubt that you'll rub my face in it everyday I'm on Omega." Lauren sidled up next to the two of them. "Everything's ready for my departure."

Aria turned suddenly and grabbed Lauren by the armor, pulling her into an awkward embrace.

Shepard averted her eyes to give them some privacy.

"Promise me that you'll be careful," Aria's voice was low.

"I'll message you when I get there on the Normandy."

Aria let go of her and looked at the console. "If you'll excuse me, I have a station to whip into shape."

"Of course, Aria."

Shepard and Lauren both turned and left Afterlife. They walked next to each other and past throngs of mercenaries that backed respectfully out of their way.

_"Citizens of Omega, hear me! I, Aria T'Loak, have given you back your lives."_

They continued to walk.

_"My rule is re-ignited - my hand is on the controls once more and I will not let go again! Each of you owes a debt, gain my favor by rounding up the remaining Cerberus invaders and..."_

Aria's voice became somewhat calmer.

_"And we will cast them from our home. Then bury and mourn our dead."_

Many of the people outside made a path for them to walk through.

_"My methods haven't always been popular and I can't promise that will change. But securing this station and everyone inside it is now my primary purpose."_

A few civilians looked at them with gratitude as Shepard followed her to the other end of the courtyard.

_"No one will imprison us again. We may be bruised, we may be bloodied, but we are Omega!"_

Cheers rang out from the people around them.

"That's my girl."

Shepard shook her head in disbelief as she looked at Bray. "You always get these crap details, Bray?"

"Not this time. You've got a galaxy to save." Bray pointed a finger over his shoulder. "Let's get you off this rock."

She pulled open her Omni-tool and clicked on the Normandy again. "Normandy? This is Shepard. Is someone going to come get me or not?"


	43. Chapter 43

Chakwas was sitting at her desk with a mug of tea in her hands reading through some reports on Javik and his culture, which Liara had all but thrown at her. It was fascinating to hear about the prothean's life, particularly his culture. It explained a lot of his behavior and what Chakwas called "friendliness" towards her. Doctors were very respected in prothean culture.

She heard the doors to her cozy work space open and heard the telltale footsteps of Shepard. The woman could wake the dead with her footsteps.

"Can I help you Commander?".

"Well, er, kinda."

Chakwas swiveled in her chair and noticed Lauren standing behind Shepard, her left arm clamped to her side. She wasn't the only one sporting injury either - Shepard had a large cut on the side of her head that had the familiar sheen of medigel on it.

"Honestly, Commander. Are you sure you're not trying to break Garrus's record for time spent in the medical bay on this ship?" Chakwas raised an eyebrow.

Shepard grinned sheepishly before walking over and sitting on stool near one of the beds. "I still beat him for time dead, that's for sure."

"What happened?"

Shepard frowned. "I don't really know. I can't remember if I hit it against something or I got thrown into something."

The doctor sighed. "Let me see."

The cut seemed deep, but not deep enough to warrant anything other than more medigel and a medical patch. Shepard squirmed the whole time, reminding Chakwas that she was not a good patient. Lauren waited patiently for Chakwas and didn't even have to explain what her problem was - a large and deep cut was hastily stitched and covered with a dirty medical patch.

"And here I thought I wouldn't see you in my medical bay so soon." Chakwas sighed. "You're just as bad as the Commander."

Shepard let out a loud snort. "I'm a perfect patient and you know it."

Lauren rolled her eyes and cringed when Chakwas's cold gloved fingers touched her skin. "Shouldn't you go report or something?"

The spectre looked deflated. "Oh yeah. I do have to do that, don't I?"

Chakwas waved a hand at her. "Goodbye, Shepard."

Lauren watched her go while Chakwas worked on her shoulder. When the doors shut completely, the doctor straightened up.

"Who stitched this together?"

Lauren looked at her shoulder and noticed the neat line of stitches. "Derimus, one of my subordinates. He was a soldier for the turian military, his mother was a doctor."

"These are typically stitches used for hard plating, so that's why I asked." Chakwas picked up a new patch and covered her shoulder. "It's very good work for quick stitches."

"I'll be sure to mention that to him the next time I'm given shore leave on the Citadel." She sounded downtrodden.

"You're not happy with being on the ship, are you?"

Lauren looked at her. "I may have promised Shepard that I would re-join the Alliance for this fight, but it doesn't mean I have to like the arrangement. It's hard being away from her." She twisted her fingers in her lap.

Chakwas noticed the ring on her finger. "If you ever need anything, let me know. But for now, I think you should shower, get something to eat, and get some rest. You look exhausted."

She grinned wearily. "That noticeable, huh?"

"I've seen my fair share of exhausted biotics, but you're probably the most exhausted one I've ever seen." Chakwas walked back to her terminal. Her reports had to be filed and she needed to make a note of Lauren and Shepard's injuries. "I don't believe Shepard's come up with a place for you to sleep or store your things just yet, so for now you can stay in here or use the sleeping pods."

"Thanks, doctor."

She heard the woman stand up and shuffle towards the door. "I think I see Deacon...with a bunch of clothes? Oh. Uniform clothes."

Chakwas chuckled. Alliance uniforms were uncomfortable until you got used to the fabric. "They only itch for a while."

"While my ass." Lauren opened the medical bay door. "Wasn't used to it then, not going to get used to them now."

* * *

_Gonna be on vacation for a week and then back with a new chapter. -I_


End file.
